TORONTO - It's been six years since the lowly mosquito ceased to be just a pesky nuisance in Canada and was cast in a far more ominous light as the carrier of a potentially deadly and debilitating disease.
But some of the people afflicted by West Nile virus, even as they pick up the pieces of their lives and learn to walk again, worry that many Canadians still aren't taking it seriously and making any effort to protect themselves.
Rev. Rick Gibson's ordeal began last August with severe headaches, tiredness and nausea, followed by aches, an inability to deal with loud noises, shaking, sweating and twitching.
"I remember getting into the car to go to the hospital, but I basically have very little memory of anything that happened for the next 10 to 14 days after that," Gibson, 55, said from Yorkton, Sask., where he lives with his wife Kathleen. "It wasn't until I came out of ICU and was in a private room that I began to become conscious, I think, again with reality."
After about a month in the Yorkton hospital, he was transferred to Wascana Rehabilitation Centre in Regina for five months of therapy that involved everything from learning how to sit up again to walking.
As his wife, a writer and columnist, describes it: "I locked my front door and followed him down and lived down there helping where I could. They put Humpty Dumpty back together again."
It's been a life-altering experience for both of them, as Gibson lost his job as minister of the Church of the Nazarene, and they had to move from the manse.
"I'm learning to find a new pace for my life," he said. "I don't have the physical or the emotional strength to do what I used to do right now."
2007 worst year ever
Last year was the worst yet for West Nile virus in Canada, as 2,353 cases, including more than 1,400 in Saskatchewan, were reported to the Public Health Agency of Canada. Most people who are infected have no symptoms or come down with something that might resemble the flu.
Gibson was among the more than 130 people last year who suffered neurological syndrome. He developed encephalitis, meningitis and a polio-like syndrome, which affected three of his four limbs. He uses a walker now, or a wheelchair at home and often when he goes out. And he still has paralysis between the elbow and shoulder of his left arm, recurring headaches, fatigue and sore muscles.
"It has changed my life radically."
Connie Voynovich, another West Nile survivor, was infected two years earlier than Gibson and is still struggling. She retired from her job at a credit union in May 2005 and, in a cruel twist of fate, got sick in September of the same year, cutting short plans for an active retirement.
Her illness began with severe pains in the head, followed by vomiting and high fever. Her husband, a firefighter, rushed her to the hospital.
"Within 24 hours, I was in a coma for about 10 to 11 days," Voynovich, 54, said from her home in Welland, Ont. Her family was called in three times to say their goodbyes as medical staff thought she would not pull through.
But survive she did. She had six weeks in intensive care and four months of rehab that involved working hard every single day.
"They had to teach me how to walk, how to talk, how to use the fork, how to use the knife, how to write, everything," she recalled. "But as the time went on, I slowly started getting better."
She still goes to rehab twice a week, and credits the fact that she was healthy beforehand for her survival.
"I swear, that's what saved my life. I swam a lot, did a lot of bike riding, I ate properly, I was very, very fit. And as far as I'm concerned, that's what made me fight it so hard, too."
She still has trouble with her hips and shoulder, and uses a cane, walker or wheelchair to get around.
"It's changed our whole life. We had to sell the home and purchase a new home that was handicapped-accessible," she explained.
"We used to like to go on bike rides. We used to like to go on long walks, swimming ... (now) I can only walk a very short distance. Bike riding, forget it, I can't even keep my balance."
Difficult transition
Stan Delorme, 44, also has gone through a difficult transition. He was busy last summer as the owner of an outfitting camp and land manager for the Cowessess First Nation near Broadview, Sask., when he began vomiting and came down with a high fever.
"I just thought it was heat stroke, so I'd fight it off as long as I could and then I went in and I was admitted (to hospital)," he said. He spent 10 days in a coma and eventually wound up in the same rehab centre as Gibson.
"When I got to the Wascana, all I could do was kind of rotate my head from side to side. And that was about the only movement I had in my body," he recalled.
"I'm still in a wheelchair. I'm still confined to the chair. I can't drive yet, can't bath, shower by myself yet."
Those who know him can't get over how he went from being one of the busiest guys around to "flat on my back," and it's been tough on his family, too, he said.
Neither Gibson, Voynovich nor Delorme can recall getting the mosquito bites that infected them and brought them so much pain and difficulty. Their cases are among the most serious - many people are infected and never show any signs of illness - yet all three are determined to spread the word that people need to be aware that the West Nile virus can lead to severe disability.
"Wear the spray with the DEET in it. Wear the long-sleeved clothing, the light clothing," advises Voynovich.
"It could hit any of us."
Delorme also wants people to be more aware of the mosquito habitat and take preventive measures at this time of year by dumping standing water. He urges people to clean up "old tires and whatnot, where water can collect and mosquitoes can breed and hatch."
Delorme and Rick Gibson plan to take part in a West Nile information session Tuesday evening in Yorkton, where eight people affected by the virus - either themselves or a relative - will spread the word. And Kathleen Gibson is working on a book about what's happened.
"West Nile has been highlighted here in Yorkton because of my case, because so many people knew me, that really I've put a face on West Nile here in Yorkton," said Gibson, who organized the session with his wife.
"And until people are impacted with it through somebody that they know, I guess they'll be like I was. They don't pay very much attention to it."
