Four weeks after Gabe's asthma attack, doctors did a muscle biopsy. It was normal. If Gabe had myosin loss myopathy, Levine concludes, the biopsy would have shown a loss of myosin, a protein that aids muscle contraction. Levine rules it out. Doctors at the University of California at Los Angeles diagnosed Gabe almost a year after his attack with Guillain-Barre, which doctors believe starts as a virus.
Asthmatics are particularly vulnerable to viruses because steroids suppress the immune system.
The body tries to attack the virus and, instead, turns on the neurological system, leaving the person paralyzed. Victims eventually walk again, though it can take years. Doctors at Good Samaritan see about 20 cases of Guillain-Barre annually. Gabe's story Day one. The routine trip to the hospital that changed his life.