When you have a rare medical condition, it doesn’t feel so rare. It feels very real, very disruptive, and very scary. But thanks to the amazing people at Health Sciences Centre, I am on the road to recovery. It’s a long road, to be sure, but a far better outcome than what might have been.
Here’s what happened.
In the late summer of 2022, I started having trouble breathing. I figured it was just a bad cold, or maybe pneumonia; and I figured I could shake it off on my own. After all, I was a healthy 30-year-old, and in the middle of an important training program at work. Big mistake.
I finally made my way to an urgent care centre, but the symptoms got so bad after a while that I ended up in an emergency room. Doctors examined me and, aside from my struggling lungs, they noticed an unusual wound on my leg. They diagnosed me with blastomycosis, an infection caused by blastomyces dermatitidis, a fungus found in certain soils. Blastomycosis can affect the lungs, the skin, and the central nervous system. I had never heard of it before, and I hadn’t spent any time around soils. I have no idea how I got sick.
Things went from bad to worse as I slipped into a 22-day coma while my body tried to fight this thing off. When I came to and was ready for discharge, I was sent home to recover with anti-fungal medication. I gradually started to feel better and was able to resume my at-home customer service job. For a while.
In August of 2023, my health changed quickly and dramatically. I started getting long and severe headaches—I can’t begin to describe the pain—and I developed an extreme sensitivity to light. I was throwing up regularly, too. It was terrible. I finally called an ambulance after losing my balance and falling over backwards in my living room.
I was taken to an urgent care centre and they sent me to HSC immediately after a brain scan. At HSC, I underwent additional tests so the doctors could understand the full scope of what was going on. It was a whirlwind and the details are fuzzy, but I remember the surgeon saying something like: “If we don’t operate on your brain right now, you might die.”
It turns out that the blastomycosis was still in my body and it started to affect my central nervous system, which triggered encephalitis—inflammation and swelling in the brain. My condition was serious and the doctor warned that the surgery could affect the part of my brain responsible for balance and that I might need to use a walker for the rest of my life.
The surgery relieved the swelling and a tube was inserted to drain excess fluids from my brain while I recovered. I was at HSC for 17 days during which time I received the most remarkable care. The neurosurgery team checked in with me every morning. The nurses were skilled, good-humoured, and attentive to my every need. The physiotherapists got me on my feet. I felt safe, cared for, and respected. And my family felt welcome and supported during their many visits.
Once stable, I was discharged to another centre to recover more before being sent home. I am still taking anti-fungal medication, and I come to HSC regularly for follow-up appointments.
I still have some limitations because I still have “blasto” (as I like to call it). I can’t work yet because I can’t look at a computer screen for more than a short time, and my lungs aren’t as strong as they used to be. I’m optimistic, though, that my eyes and lungs will continue to get better.
Thanks to the skilled neurosurgeons at HSC, I can walk without assistance. I often pick up my nephew from school on foot, and I help my parents take care of my much younger sister once a week. I’m past the most acute stages of my disease and getting stronger all the time.
I am eternally grateful for the care I received at HSC: the prompt attention, the expert surgery, the compassionate bedside care, and the meticulous follow-up. I feel like I am in good hands. I think we all are. There are excellent people working at HSC—experts who care deeply about my well-being. And yours.
I urge you to support the Health Sciences Centre Foundation. The dollars we donate as a community help these tremendous professionals do their best work for all of us.
Sincerely,
Paul Fontaine
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