Just Another Runner’s Story. March 2024Written by Gale Fischer
Science or Just a Miracle
“Faith is having a positive attitude about what you can do and not worrying at all about what you cannot do.”
—-Joyce Meyer
Everyone reaches certain individual milestones in their running journey that tell their story. It might be a first double-digit mile run, a first marathon, or tackling an ultra distance. Other examples include a sub-twenty-minute 5K, a one-hundred-mile month, or finishing a first year as a runner. This month’s featured runner, Timothy Adair, has hit many common milestones in his young running story, but when running a quarter mile for the first time after surviving a life-threatening virus, he hit as big of a milestone as any runner can hope for. For his mom and dad, Tim and Jody, this short run was a significant sign that their son’s life was back on track. After a tumultuous summer of uncertainty and prayer with Timothy’s body drained of nearly everything it had for survival, his return to life as normal was something unbelievable. Being able to come back to his sport so quickly after much of the life had been squeezed out of his body was difficult to comprehend. It must have been a miracle.
Timothy has participated in other sports including soccer and basketball, but running would rise to the top as his favorite. “I started running when I was ten years old. I would run with my brothers Clay and Caleb who were both cross-country runners.” Timothy is the seventh of ten children that Tim and Jody have been blessed with. Five of his older siblings have been involved with cross-country. Timothy would soon join them. He started running cross country in sixth grade for the Kalamazoo Cougars, a team composed of home-schooled athletes in and around Battle Creek and Kalamazoo. Cross-country seemed to suit Timothy. “I like the competition. There is no bench to sit on. Anyone can run. I also like the social part of cross-country.” Timothy is thirteen years old and will compete for his high school team this coming fall as a freshman. His two-mile middle school PR is 12:35, but he has also competed in road races at the 5K distance with a PR of 20:17 for that distance.
It comes as no surprise that Timothy and his siblings run cross country with both Mom and Dad having enjoyed the sport for years. Tim’s running story began as a cross-country runner for Lakeview High School. He gave up running after high school but would make a return in an extreme fashion. “I started getting serious about running as an adult in 2007 for health reasons. I lost a lot of weight when I started running again. I have always enjoyed being active outside and running has been the perfect activity for this. Eventually, I tried a marathon and liked this.” A marathon would seem like a long enough distance for most runners, but Tim decided to raise the bar. He has completed thirty ultra-marathons to date including four at the one-hundred-mile distance.
Jody also ran cross country in high school, for Marshall High School and has been running since. “I ran cross-country in high school and have continued with it through the years. I was able to run through all my pregnancies. I have run one marathon and several half marathons. I still run but have recently incorporated walk breaks into my running.” Although Tim and Jody’s running goals are very different and they run on their own sometimes, they also run a fair amount of miles together.
Being a part of a family that enjoys running, it would seem obvious that they all would be healthy. Not only do the Adairs stay healthy through moving, but they also try to maintain healthy habits through diet as well. One may adhere to strict healthy practices but there are never any guarantees. As a twelve-year-old boy, Timothy would face a major health scare head-on, showing all of us that although everyone can do their best to control their circumstances, there are always going to be things that we don’t have any control over. Timothy developed a virus in June of 2022 that seemed normal but would quickly escalate to something very serious. “I had developed a stomach virus in the first few weeks of June 2022. I was managing ok but started to feel very weak, on June 15. My legs began to hurt badly. I was playing soccer and couldn’t keep from falling.”
Jody and Tim weren’t sure what to think when they witnessed Timothy falling on the soccer field. Jody thought it may have been growing pains but both Mom and Dad also understand their son’s sense of humor. Tim recalls how he felt when he realized that his son’s condition was serious. “I felt bad as a dad because initially I thought he was just being dramatic.”
Jody’s initial reaction to her son falling on the soccer field was similar to Tim’s. “He likes to be funny so when he started falling we thought maybe he was joking.” Things would get serious quickly with Timothy experiencing extreme pain. He was taken to Bronson in Kalamazoo and put through a battery of tests including a spinal tap and an MRI. He was diagnosed with Guillan-Barre Syndrome (GBS), a rare but serious condition caused when the immune system attacks the nerves. Jody describes GBS. “The immune system normally takes care of viruses, but Timothy’s immune system confused his nerves as the virus. It attacked his nerves and spinal cord and ate away at the myelin sheath.”
Both Jody and Tim were quickly educated about the condition their son was faced with. The damage to Timothy’s myelin sheath was paralyzing his body. Tim describes the progression of the disease. “Paralysis typically starts in the toes and moves up throughout the body. Jody and I weren’t sure what to think initially but when Timothy was unable to walk, we began to understand the severity of the situation.”
There are distinct forms of GBS. In the majority of cases, individuals experience lower body weakness as the most severe of symptoms. Timothy’s condition quickly grew beyond this. From Wednesday to Sunday morning, it progressed to total paralysis from the neck down as well as no feeling on half of his face. Paralysis is a debilitating condition but Timothy was experiencing another element. Jody reflects on the situation. “Even though he was paralyzed he could still feel pain. Seeing my son in extreme pain and not being able to do anything about it was devastating. It got to the point that he couldn’t swallow food. Then it started affecting his organs. By Monday morning his doctors discussed putting him on a ventilator and flying him to Helen DeVos Children’s Hospital in Grand Rapids, which was better equipped at treating his condition.”
Mom and Dad both stayed with Timothy while he was being treated at Bronson and later at Helen DeVos and relied on the older kids, church family, and friends to look after everyone and everything at home. Tim reflects on the time at Bronson and Helen DeVos. “We tried to stay optimistic but it was obvious we were in unchartered waters. His blood pressure was going up and down. He eventually started a treatment called plasmapheresis. He did this for two hours every two days for ten days. The treatment was done in an effort to keep his condition from getting worse. He eventually developed pneumonia and really struggled to breathe. By day fifteen, he started rounding the corner.”
Timothy was placed in a terrifying situation but the pain he was experiencing may have distracted him from the fear at times. He reflects on his thoughts. “I was in a great deal of pain. I had a hard time sleeping. I was so hot. My nerves were on fire. My whole body hurt. Doctors tried different painkillers but nothing seemed to relieve the pain. Finally, my doctors tried morphine. It worked but I couldn’t get enough morphine. The morphine also helped me sleep. At one point I thought that I was going to die.”
The first sign that Timothy might be on the road to recovery was when he was able to move his thumb. He still couldn’t breathe on his own and his medical team wanted to put a trachea in him. Tim and Jody didn’t want this and their prayers were answered when he began breathing on his own the day before the procedure for the trachea was to take place. His recovery began to progress and he was given discharge orders on July 6 after being in the PICU for nineteen days. In a three-week period of time, Timothy had gone from being a normally healthy boy to a regression of paralysis to the road of full recovery. After he was released from Helen DeVos he was transferred to Mary Free Bed for rehab.
When Timothy made the transition from Helen DeVos to Mary Free Bed, Tim and Jody were able to breathe a sigh of relief. Things were looking up but they were still in a state of limbo. Tim hadn’t been able to work and both Mom and Dad were away from the rest of their children. On top of this they weren’t able to enjoy running, the activity that undoubtedly brought balance to their lives as parents of ten children. Things were still not back to normal but being out of the hospital and at Mary Free Bed was the most encouragement they had received since the entire ordeal began. It seemed as if their prayers were being answered. They would take shifts with Jody staying in Grand Rapids for a few days and Tim holding down the fort at home with the rest of the kids and then switching roles. Jody describes the pride and admiration she felt as she watched her son fight to regain normalcy in his life. “He worked so hard in his therapies. He had such an uphill battle.” Tim and Timothy’s therapists felt the same as Jody. Everyone was amazed at his work ethic, determination, and how quickly he was recovering. Normally, those with GBS have a very slow recovery time. Timothy was able to go home on July 21 and continued outpatient therapy for another six weeks.
What seemed like despair with thoughts of grief and the unknown soon turned into hope, praise, and gratitude with a full recovery in just a few months after it seemed that life would never be the same. Jody talks about the impact that the entire experience had on her. “I am amazed by the support of the community. Thousands of people prayed for him, many of whom I didn’t know. I was inspired by Timothy’s perseverance. By the end of September, he ran his first two-mile race since his diagnosis, a confirmation that he had fully recovered. Many of the moms were crying.” Timothy’s return to running was a blessing for his entire cross-country family.
Although Tim and Jody have always been spiritual, they have never had to lean on others for anything. In trying to deal with what Timothy was going through it became obvious that they couldn’t do it alone. They learned that being vulnerable is part of life and that leaning on others and a higher power is sometimes necessary. Tim describes how his outlook on life changed. “For me personally, the entire experience has taught me the importance of the community. We couldn’t have survived this ourselves. It humbled us. It taught me to trust God no matter how bad things get. Eventually, I prepared myself to trust in whatever the outcome might be. It was a very spiritual experience and I felt I was not in control. I was impressed by how Timothy was able to stay positive.”
Tim is thankful for the support from so many. He and Jody were faced with a financial hit due to Tim not being able to work. A friend set up a GoFundMe page for the family which helped immensely. Prior to this, Tim would not have wanted help from others but now he realizes that sometimes this is necessary.
What Timothy has gone through seems unfair but his perspective on the entire situation is impressive. “What I have been through shows how God really takes care of us. It’s amazing how other people have been there for us. It’s been a blessing. I changed my perspective on others who struggle. It helped me learn how to show empathy.” Being able to return to running and to being with his teammates is something that Timothy has embraced. “I was able to join my team for practice in August just a few months after being paralyzed from the neck down. I had to build back up with my running. Physically and mentally I am back to normal. I always enjoyed running. I wanted to make it to be like nothing ever happened when I came back. Being back with the team has been great.”
The experience that the Adair family has been through is a great illustration that there are no guarantees in life. Jody believes that leading a healthy lifestyle with diet, running, and being physically active has had a positive impact on Timothy’s full recovery. I would agree with her. Although we all lack total control of what happens in our lives, doing what we can to keep our lives positive is always important. I have to believe that Jody’s, Tim’s, and Timothy’s mentality as runners to never give up and remain positive through highs and lows was a factor in Timothy's returning to life as normal.
Everyone has a story. Stay tuned next month for another runner’s story.
No comments:
Post a Comment