Re: FYI!! ALS/lyme showing IMPROVEMENT!!!

[Guest guest]

Please pray for Vince and .....Vince WILL get better, I know.

sue in nj

sue massie

<A

HREF= " http://www.sptimes.com/News/122801/Pasco/Family_hopes_for_fire.shtml " >

http://www.sptimes.com/News/122801/Pasco/Family_hopes_for_fire.shtml</A>

Family hopes for firefighter's recovery

Sota, 47, who hasn't spoken in months, has been diagnosed with two

diseases.

By RYAN DAVIS, Times Staff Writer

© St. sburg Times

published December 28, 2001

SHADY HILLS -- A week before Christmas, Emiko and Sota already knew

where they would open their gifts. " Inside my daddy's room so he can see what

we get, " 8-year-old Emiko said. Her 6-year-old brother nodded approvingly.

Daddy used to fight fires, but he can't walk into the family room anymore.

Former Pasco County firefighter and EMT Sota, 47, can't breathe or

eat by himself. He spent seven months in the hospital this year. He hasn't

been able to utter a word in more than eight months. He's been rendered a

quadriplegic. He communicates with his wife, , by blinking. The root of

the trouble is an infected tick, a burrowing creature no larger than one

number in the date on a penny. It took 15 doctors, but eventually Sota was

diagnosed with Lyme disease, an inflammatory disease characterized by skin

changes, joint inflammation and flulike symptoms. He got it from a deer tick

in Florida, his wife said. He has also been diagnosed with amyotrophic

lateral sclerosis, a fatal disease better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's

disease. But Sota firmly believes the Lyme disease has caused the

symptoms of ALS. In a year, she hopes he's walking and talking, she said. " I

would love to hear his voice again, " said. After a St. sburg Times

article last December, Sota and his wife came to know about 90 Lyme disease

sufferers across the United States -- even some overseas -- who were

misdiagnosed with ALS. After that, he got worse. He has just begun to get

better, said. The worst day was April 5. For 10 years Sota

responded to 911 calls. That day his wife had to call 911 to save his life.

Paramedics had to stick a tube down his throat so he could breathe. His

6-foot-2, 220-pound frame withered to 131 pounds. He went to Spring Hill

Regional Medical Center and then to the former Vencor Hospital, now Kindred

Hospital in Tampa. It took months for Sota to persuade doctors to treat

her husband for Lyme disease. He responded to the treatment, improved

slightly and returned home Nov. 8. He lives in a bed. His children climb the

bed to kiss him. Sota sleeps at his side -- never more than four hours a

time, always on an air mattress. She has used some of the more than $4,000,

which firefighters have raised, to hire a nurse who will help the family

through January. Sota can't stop thanking firefighters and the Pasco

Sheriff's Office, where she was a printing assistant, for their help. For 9

1/2 months, firefighters volunteered to cover her husband's shifts so he

could get paid until disability and Medicare were approved. Sheriff's

employees continue to donate money. The kids have gotten gifts and meals. But

Christmas isn't the holiday Sota, who proposed to her husband, uses to

mark time. The couple celebrated their 11th wedding anniversary on Sept. 7.

" He owes me 39 more, " she said. " I'm not letting him go until I get 39 more

years. "

<A HREF= " http://www.sptimes.com/tpc/TC.Copyright.html " >© Copyright 2001</A>

<A HREF= " http://www.sptimes.com/tpc/TC.Copyright.html " >St. sburg Times.

</A>