By Naomi Parris

WHILE at work, Garfield Wilson developed a severe headache that he assumed would pass, but it ultimately left him quadriplegic for several years.

Quadriplegia is a symptom of paralysis that affects all of a person’s limbs and body from the neck down. The most common cause of quadriplegia is an injury to the spinal cord in your neck, but it can also happen with medical conditions.

While on duty in 2018, Wilson, a civilian worker at the Guyana Defence Force (GDF), passed out and was later found to have Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), an uncommon condition in which the immune system attacks the peripheral nerves.

“It started as a headache, just a headache around 12 o’clock midday and I fell down. After I fell down, I got up and soak my head. I sat down. I couldn’t move anything,” Wilson recalled in a recent interview with the Guyana Chronicle.

That evening, Wilson went to bed and assumed that a little rest would have him refreshed for the next day. However, when he woke the following morning, he could not move on his own and was completely paralyzed from the neck down.

“We went to GDF medical centre; they treated me for dehydration, spent the day, same thing happened. So, the next day my mom decided to take me back and they referred me right away to the public hospital; by the time the doctor could have come and check on me I was completely paralyzed.”

Wilson spent ten days in the hospital and after several tests, he was informed of his rare condition.

It was certainly not something he had prepared for.

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), GBS can affect people of all ages, but it is more common in adult males. The syndrome can affect the nerves that control muscle movement as well as those that transmit pain, temperature and touch sensations.

Although Wilson was unable to move his body, he was in immense pain.

“The pain was so terrible it took me like a year before I could have stand up back,” he said.

THERAPY

After being confined to a bed for almost a year, Wilson began therapy at Palm’s Rehabilitation Services. There he was assigned to specialists who currently work with him as he seeks to regain full mobility and reclaim his life.

“I would advise anyone who is starting a therapy. Don’t think about the past, don’t think about what happened, think about the betterment and where you can go from there.”

While Wilson is now able to walk on his own, he still undergoes regular hydrotherapy, a form of psychical therapy that uses water to treat a variety of symptoms.

GOAL- ORIENTED

Wilson, along with his physiotherapists Kimberly Sparman and Nikita Cumberbatch have developed a goal-oriented plan to ensure that he becomes the best version of himself psychically and mentally.

Sparman in a brief interview with this publication, explained that goal-oriented plans are introduced to many patients who require a psychical therapy. In Wilson’s case, this was done to meet his needs.

“We would usually use the resistance of the water, also the buoyance, meaning its ability to float to alleviate pressure on your joints and also basically assist you with doing the movements,” she said adding: “We do a range of motion exercises, strengthening exercises, stretches and also relaxation. Once the patient is able to make all those goals set out by himself and the therapist and we see that okay.”

Meanwhile, Cumberbatch further explained how hydrotherapy can assist persons like Wilson, who would have lost mobility.

“With hydrotherapy it is not targetted to or only neurological conditions. People suffering from osteoporosis or other muscular, skeletal conditions benefit from the buoyance and weightlessness that water provides.”

She noted that hydrotherapy, coupled with a goal-oriented plan, sees many patients recording successful recoveries.

“When doing physical therapy, we are very goal-oriented We have special tools we use to measure progress; so from the time the person comes we do an initial assessment and we do periodical checks to see where the person is and sometimes it’s not major changes but we look at each and every small change, because small changes can move on to something big; one flicker of a muscle is going to turn into a big movement. We encourage small movements and we move on to the bigger items.”

Wilson attributed his success thus far to the specialists who have been working closely with him and his family.

“My determination paid a big role in the level I was to where I am now, I had to make up my mind to get where I am at the moment.”

He added, “My biggest support was my mom and sister. I grew up without a father and it is just my mom and sister I have, without them I wouldn’t be here, they were the ones who supported me.”