Once paralyzed from neck down from rare disease, now back at the gym
3 Min Read
Actor Cody Hively was just 27 years old when he was diagnosed with a severe case of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disorder that kills about 1 in 20 victims.
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Actor Cody Hively (SWNS)
After falling ill with a potentially fatal immunological illness, a man who was paralyzed from the neck down achieved a miraculous recovery and is back in the gym just six months later.
Actor Cody Hively was just 27 years old when he was diagnosed with a severe case of Guillain-Barre syndrome, a disorder that kills about 1 in 20 victims.
Immune illnesses like Guillain-Barre syndrome lead the immune system to attack the patient's nerves.
Hively received intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), a treatment for people with antibody deficits, for three months while he was in the hospital. However, only six months after getting sick and having to relearn how to walk, he is back in the gym.
It started in the middle of January 2022 with tingling and numbness in the feet, and it got worse until it reached the shoulders. “Every day the doctors said the same thing, this could stop tomorrow, or it could just keep getting worse,” said Hively.
His symptoms were so bad that nurses had to speak to him using an alphabet board since he could barely move his head from side to side. He was unable to breathe or swallow well, so he had to be intubated.
“It was really disturbing,” he recalled. “I was a prisoner to my own body, minutes turned into days turned into weeks turned into months. My whole body felt like it was on fire.”
Fortunately, the treatment was effective, and sensation gradually returned to his body. The young man had been physically active, and he had his entire life ahead of him. On March 17th, he was transferred to an inpatient rehabilitation center, where he started his recovery.
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After four hours of physical therapy a day and having to relearn how to utilize most of his muscles, Hively was able to walk for short distances with some assistance by early July.
“When I began walking it felt like I was alive again, each week I would make progress even if it was a couple of extra steps,” he said.
By August, he had returned to the gym. Cody admits that he never gave up hope, and never believed he would be that 1 in 20.
