Waking up to the realities of the 9-11 terrorist attack at the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11 is a fact many Americans will never forget, just like Tyler Nicolay will never forget waking up from a medically induced coma on that date this year.
The 18-year-old Innisfail teen came home from Calgary's Foothills Medical Centre after being on life support for about six weeks. Tyler initially complained about the flu and was airlifted by STARS Air Ambulance after he had arrived at emergency coughing up blood around 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 13.
“I missed the helicopter ride,” he said with a chuckle last week, noting he was unconscious during the airlift.
Last week Tyler spoke to the media for the first time since he became ill with hantavirus last August. He returned home for the first time after a six-week hospitalization on Sept. 22.
“I've been home two weeks on Sunday,” he said at his house on Tuesday. “So, 16 days. I was so happy. I hated the hospital bed.”
Tyler was diagnosed with hantavirus, a rare life-threatening disease caused from having contact with urine, droppings or saliva from infected rodents, after 10 days of running tests.
“I don't remember anything,” he said. “I remember being in Innisfail, and that's it.”
According to Health Canada the earliest documented case of hantavirus in Canada was contracted in Alberta in 1989. Since then, there have been more than 70 confirmed cases, with the most recent findings occurring in Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and British Columbia.
However, the last case reported before Nicolay was reported in Alberta in 2005.
“The survival rate is not very good,” said his mom Jamie. “Thirty-six to 50 per cent don't make it and just because it was confirmed he actually had the hantavirus, his lung biopsy was sent to Atlanta because they don't have any tissue samples from a living hantavirus victim. They're usually all done by autopsies.”
Tyler's eyes widened from across the kitchen table while he listened to his mother's memories about what happened to him.
“I'm the only biopsy,” he said. “By next year, I'll probably end up forgetting this happened.”
“I don't think so,” Jamie replied with a nervous laugh.
“Well,” he said pausing. “I still have big scars on my side.”
But the realities of Tyler's battle to survive are seared into his family's minds forever.
“For the first 10 days, they (doctors) didn't have a clue what was going on,” said Jamie. “I was scared.”
His mother added the entire Nicolay family was horrified about her son's near- death experience, but she admitted the news of Tyler's test results was ultimately a relief.
“I was the first one at the hospital, but he doesn't remember me being there at all so he thought I just ditched him,” said his sister Taylar. “But I was actually there. I pulled a lot of strings to get there between work and training, and work and training.”
Jamie explained doctors had run more tests than she could count, including cleaning his blood four times as well as lung and kidney biopsies.
“When we found out that it was hantavirus, we were relieved that it was hantavirus, that it wasn't the vasculitis because it wasn't going to be a lifetime of treatments and stuff,” said Jamie.
In addition, Jamie said her son Tyler's small vessels in his lungs were inflamed and bled, which is why he was put into a medically induced coma for treatments. She added it's “rare” to see bleeding from hantavirus.
“He's come a long ways since he came home,” she said. “He couldn't even go up and down stairs at first, but now he can do that. He can shower and his appetite is back, so he's definitely trying to gain back some of that weight — We just don't want to ever go through it again.”
Last June Tyler graduated from Innisfail Junior/Senior High, focusing his efforts on his RAP (registered apprentice program) in the welding trade. Before his illness he had been working at Pidherney's Trucking Ltd. out of Rocky Mountain House.
“They told us that it could take up to a complete year to get (Tyler's) strength back, but once he's able to do stuff, he can do it,” said Jamie. “He's anxious to get driving again.”
But Tyler needs the doctor's approval to drive first.
“We're thinking probably two or three more weeks until he's a bit stronger,” she said. “He can still go out and do stuff, but it's affecting his work because he's a construction worker so working with heavy equipment is probably not that safe.”
“Two at the most,” he added with a grin.
