Weekend Report | The Freeport News | PDF Online Guide

Friday, July 3, 2009

Home National Sports Business Lifestyles Religion Arts & Culture Pulse Spice Editorial letters Opinion Foodie Sportscope Real Talks Weekend Report PDF's Classifieds Contact About Us Archive Weather

Waging war together By THEA RUTHERFORD ~ Guardian National Correspondent ~ thea@nasguard.com: "Surreal" is a word that comes up a lot when Shane Dean talks about what happened to his wife Kera last year. Her three words to him, "Something isn't right," one morning in June 2008, triggered a series of medical tests, tears and trials that would take the newlyweds into the beginning of this year, thanking God for their family, friends and each other. But that summer morning, what "wasn't right" was more frightening than either of them could have ever imagined. Reaching for the glass of water she kept on her nightstand that morning as she sat up in bed, Kera managed to pick up the glass, but watched in horror as it slid through her slackened fingers. She tried to bend over but could not. She felt like she was about to fall over. She reached for the cup again to no avail. Then she tried to grip her husband's hand. She couldn't hold on. In a matter of hours Kera had lost all feeling in the left side of her body. "One minute you're perfectly healthy, then the next minute, in a matter of hours you lose control of your whole left side of your body," said Shane. "It was surreal." Twenty-eight-years-old, a new wife and an even newer mother — the couple's son Shane Jr. was just two years old — Kera was months away from a diagnosis of multiple sclerosis. A degenerative disease with no cure that tends to occur in women, what causes multiple sclerosis (MS) continues to baffle doctors. As the body's immune system attacks the protective sheath surrounding the nerves, communication between the brain and the rest of the body is interrupted. "When the coating [around the nerve] is worn out, the information travels slowly and not only slowly the information is distorted," explained Dr. Magnus Ekedede, a neurosurgeon at The Ladies Medical Centre, and the doctor who treated Kera. Ekedede said that he has seen two to three cases of MS a year for the 12 years he has practiced in The Bahamas. MS symptoms include numbness or weakness in limbs, particularly on one side of the body; partial or complete blindness in one eye; tingling or pain; lack of coordination; fatigue and dizziness. That morning, the civil war within Kera's body had already begun. Over the next few months, the couple would become regulars at the hospital. At first, all they wanted was to know what was wrong. Hypertension and diabetes had been ruled out early as the possible causes for Kera's condition. At times Shane caught himself wishing it had been a stroke. At least then, they would have a name for the mysterious and debilitating illness. "Not knowing is worse than actually knowing what's going on," he said recalling the fear. "Waiting and watching her have to sit through . . . not knowing and going through all those tests and the hospital for a long time, was just heart wrenching." It would take five months of tests, including several MRI scans and two spinal taps, before doctors in Florida determined that Kera had MS. In the meantime she struggled, unable to feed herself, change herself, move. "She was devastated," he remembered. "In a way had to be the strong one for us because the two of us couldn't be the same way. So I had to be the strong one, encouraging her, being there to comfort her for her to get through it." Though, said Shane, "I wouldn't say I know what she went through." Not on my worst enemy The morning when Kera awakened with no feeling in the left side of her body was supposed to be a new beginning. Newly married, a new mother, she was also preparing for the first day of a new job. Armed with a plan to rise to the top of the financial services sector, everything was falling into place. When Kera's sudden partial paralysis sent the couple scrambling to the hospital for answers, her dream began to fray at the edges. The ambitious and energetic young woman was rendered helpless overnight. "I literally had to be moved to the tub," she said. "I had to be moved out of the tub. I had to get help dressing and undressing . . . My worst enemy, I wouldn't want them to go through what I've been through." With life suddenly tipped upside down, the couple watched their savings trickle away on overwhelming medical expenses. Money that had been saved for a home of their own had to be used for, among other hospital stay expenses and tests, a prescription drug called Avonex used to prevent Kera's attacks. A dispute in which their insurance company refused to pay for the prescription citing that Kera's illness was a pre-existing condition was eventually resolved. The insurance company now pays the hefty bill for the prescription. "Doctors would put ice on me, water, hot things and I couldn't feel anything," Kera remembered of some of the scariest moments of last year. "I couldn't feel my husband's touch. I couldn't feel my son's touch. I couldn't feel anything." With her husband caring for her, Kera's family took care of their son. Family, friends and church members offered much-appreciated financial and emotional support. But Kera still wondered: would her young husband leave? "He just assured me that he's in it for the long haul," she said. "This isn't scaring him. This isn't running him." The long haul The couple, who both rush for the Saxons, met at Junkanoo practice in 2005. They began dating and were married less than a year later. "We had that bond, that chemistry from we met, so it just went from there and it went on," said Shane. "It's like you know this is the person for me. You could have felt that because we had that chemistry and that connection. People say you know when it happens. It sounds a little corny or scripted but in actuality, that's how it happened." Monday, June 8, 2009 It was easy to quiet his wife's fears when she wondered after her diagnosis if they had reached a hill too steep to climb together. "For me it wasn't really like a test of my love, my test came when I said I do," he said. "It tested now basically our relationship and what we could withstand and how much were willing to withstand . . . Life would be a little bit different . . . but we could overcome any obstacle." Working out together became an important manifestation of their mission to beat MS. Already in therapy three times a week for two to three hours each session, Kera also had to do therapy at home with her husband to regain movement in her limbs. "I always believed [and] after awhile I got her to believe and to buy into [beating] this," said Shane. "That was a turning point and we started to make real progress then." Now walking and moving again, Kera continues the exercise regimen with her husband. She will be on medication for the rest of her life to control her MS and she always has to be careful about over-exerting herself or getting stressed out. But she is grateful to God for another kind of new beginning. "Right now, I'm just getting back into a new normal. Like Oprah says, every day is a new normal for me." Most of all, she is thankful for her husband. "God gave me a wonderful, wonderful, wonderful husband," she said.