Samuel was my wild big brother he was
adventurous he loved to travel he was
crazy he'd hang off bridges and wade to
the furthest most remote
icy waters. Samuel was crazy he was also
very motivating we several times as
sisters decided that we were not going
to listen to him ever ever ever again
because he always got us into extreme
situations that were dangerous Samuel
was a very loving kind-hearted very
understanding sweet kind of a husband he
was also a very proud father to Samuel-
Elijah.
We live in a very remote wooded area
we've always had wood ticks as a child I
had wood ticks all the time that we were
never freaked out about it but I would
have to say that in the last five years
there has been a huge boom in the amount
of deer ticks we see so deer ticks being
the ticks that are known to carry Lyme
disease. About three weeks before he
passed we had a family get-together
on the farm
and the plan was to go swimming because
it was hot it was beginning of July and
for old time sakes we wanted to spend
the day in the river and we went
swimming then that's when Leah noticed a
rash and had I remember standing on the
shore with her talking and she's like
I'm nervous about this Justina
like there's something going on he was
really kind of quiet and withdrawn and
he said that he had the flu and that was
really odd for him because he's usually
the life of our parties then I mentioned
Lyme disease to him on that day but he
just dismissed it he said I haven't been
been bitten by a tick so it's just the
flu the week after he had incredible
pain and he was taking advil Samuel
never took Advil Samuel never went to
the doctor. There was never anything
wrong with Samuel and so I think it was
during that time that maybe we we
wondered but the three weeks before he
passed he was getting sore joints and
had a big fever rash
and it was his sister Leah suggested it
in our presence at one point these are
classic Lyme's disease symptoms she said
and then I started thinking about it in
she was absolutely right
they were classic Lyme disease symptoms
and I guess the interesting thing
about it too is I had just sent tests
away for myself because I was suspecting
I might have Lyme disease and his
symptoms were faster and a little
different and asked the doctor could it
be Lyme disease and but the fact was he
couldn't remember a deer tick bite
recently and the week after he passed
away my tests came back positive I don't
know when Samuel first noticed something
was wrong but I remember the day that he
was driving himself into the hospital he
actually he phones the house and I
answered and he's asked if mom was there
and I said no and he just said you know
Jeannine I'm going to the hospital now cuz I
just don't feel good at all I can tell
right away he was very sick and in
trouble his heart rate was 42 and his
electric cardiogram showed heart block
taken together with the history of rash
and flu-like symptoms earlier with
exposure to ticks out of doors in
Manitoba we suspected Lyme carditis
we initiated antibiotic treatment
against the bacteria that causes Lyme
disease Borrelia burgdorferi and
requested a serologic blood test to
confirm the diagnosis there was no way
of testing it fast
there was not an awareness not
a sense of this is a disease we need to
be alert to at that moment I was going
oh geez I guess something really is
wrong but I didn't really know anything
was that wrong until we got the phone
call in the middle of the night that his
heart would stopped. Four hours
after admission he became sweaty and his
blood pressure dropped dangerously low
the resuscitation team was called
emergently to his bedside his heart went
into ventricular tachycardia and he
required CPR and defibrillation after
this the medical team was unable to
regain spontaneous circulation he was
taken to the intensive care unit for
treatment with ECMO or extracorporeal
membrane oxygenation and a ventricular
assistive device was placed there to try
to support his circulation and provide
oxygen to his body our patient's case
was surprising to the doctors nurses who
looked after him because we are not
accustomed to seeing such severe
fulminant myocarditis cases which
deteriorates so rapidly really within
hours of presenting it is a rare
occurrence to see such an fulminant
case nonetheless I've gained a deeper
appreciation for this possibility after
Samuel serologic or blood tests
showed that Samuel had Lyme disease for
me the most striking thing about Samuels
story is how fast everything progressed
between coming into the hospital and his
death
was less than 48 hours we want to make
sure that this type of tragedy doesn't
strike another young man or woman or
another family I tend to focus on
counting the numbers and monitoring the
surveillance of the vectors the black
legged ticks like sweeties scapularis in
this case as they have spread across our
province over the last few years and
trying through monitoring they're trying
to establish a risk parameter for their
frontline physicians tick borne
diseases are not static and with global
warming even a hearing a cold canada
we're going to see the emergence of new
diseases over the coming years I've not
come to personal resolution over Samuels
passing I don't think I ever will
however I have come to terms with Lyme
disease being a real danger to living
where we live my biggest takeaway is
yeah I can make good choices like I'm
not gonna go rolling around in the bush
anytime soon
but I'm not going to I'm not gonna
bubble wrap myself because part of
living here is his being outside I would
like to express my appreciation to
Samuels family for helping us tell his
story we think it's important for
clinicians to be able to see what
happened to Samuel so that they'll think
about Lyme carditis when they see
patients that present in a similar
fashion
