GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Heather Ibrahim didn’t hesitate when 24 Hour News 8 asked if she would be willing to meet a fellow West Nile patient.
“It’s kind of like a brotherhood of people who’ve gone through this, you know,” Ibrahim said. “People can be kind and supportive, but it’s not the same thing as being able to talk to someone who’s been through the same thing you have.”
Ibrahim, one of Grand Rapids’ earliest West Nile patients, thinks she contracted West Nile when she was bitten by a mosquito while mowing her yard in August of 2002.
Ibrahim, now 45, spent a week in a coma and a total of five weeks in the hospital.
“I couldn’t walk for close to six weeks,” she recalled. “It affected every muscle in my whole body… I had to relearn how to swallow.”
On Friday, she visited a man who was paralyzed by his bout with West Nile in August of 2017.
Al Walczak, 67, was a healthy, active retiree before a mosquito bite in Kent County changed his life.
Ibrahim wanted to leave Walczak with one thing: Hope.
While both patients faced life-threatening complications early on, Ibrahim has made a near full recovery 16 years later.
When 24 Hour News 8 interviewed Walczak about his fight to recover after West Nile, he mentioned that he would like to meet others who have had the virus.
“It’s great to see you moving around,” Walczak told Ibrahim. “I may have been impacted more severely but that doesn’t mean things won’t change. Things are already changing.”
Walczak has regained some movement in his arms and hands since his release from Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital last January. But there’s no way to know if he will ever walk again.
“Keep working,” Ibrahim told Walczak. “Have hope and keep working.”
Ibrahim and Walczak traded stories and compared notes.
Both have blank spots in their memories from early on in their illnesses. Both were continually touched by the generosity and support of those around them.
Now, the two intend to stay in touch and get their families together as well.