"He was weak in his arms and legs and severely confused, unable to follow commands."īased on the MRI results, and an analysis of Jon's spinal fluid, which showed an overabundance of inflammatory cells, the Neurology team believed Jon's illness could be demyelinating with an autoimmune cause.ĭr. "When I came to see him in the ICU, he was very sick," Dr. These scans showed spinal cord abnormalities and changes in the white matter of his brain that prompted the leader of Jon's ICU team to consult with Dr. While comatose and unresponsive, Jon underwent several more MRIs. However, it did nothing to improve Jon's worsening symptoms. When he was admitted to the Neurosciences ICU, he was placed on a ventilator. Jon's physicians reached out to their colleagues at Mayo Clinic in Rochester to arrange a transfer.ĭuring the 90-minute ambulance ride, Jon experienced breathing difficulties. He underwent an MRI, but the results were inconclusive. He lost all feeling in his legs and lower torso. Realizing Jon's condition was worsening, Kris insisted his care be transferred to the larger medical center in nearby Mankato, Minnesota.Īt Mayo Clinic Health System in Mankato, Jon deteriorated further. During the stay, Jon began losing feeling in his legs. He received antiviral treatment and more pain medication, but he became weak and confused. There, he received pain medication, but it was largely ineffective.Ī few days later, he returned to the small hospital, where he was admitted and diagnosed with viral meningitis. Eventually, the pain became so intense it forced Jon to leave work early and seek care at a medical center close to his home in Gaylord, Minnesota. It was unusual for Jon to develop headaches, and even more unusual, the pain progressively worsened over the course of a week. It was a Sunday morning at the end of the summer when Jon awoke with a painful headache. While Jon might never remember some parts of his medical journey - he fell into an eight-day coma just after arriving at Mayo Clinic Hospital - Rochester - the events leading up to his decline remain vivid in both his and Kris' memories. Flanagan.Īnd while Jon's return to health was slow, the road forward was just as remarkable as his decline. "It's as sick as a neurology patient can get," says Dr. Flanagan was a member of Jon's care team. "When those cells get damaged, then the insulation is removed and patients have neurologic symptoms," explains Eoin Flanagan, M.B., B.Ch., a Mayo Clinic neurologist who specializes in autoimmune neurologic conditions. This type of brain cell, found on the surface of oligodendrocytes, helps make the myelin coating of nerve cells. Testing at Mayo Clinic Laboratories revealed that Jon's immune cells, triggered by a cause not well-understood, laid siege to a particular protein, called myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG). ![]() What knocked Jon down in late summer 2015 was his own immune system. "That was kind of a rude awakening, you know?" "I was taking care of my parents, taking care of this shop and my family, and then all of the sudden I couldn't take care of myself," Jon says. He was a powerhouse whose strength was as much a tool of his trade as the equipment in his garage. ![]() To Kris and their daughters, it seemed impossible that Jon could have fallen so gravely ill. He spent weekends riding his motorcycle with his wife, Kris Bratsch, seated behind him. ![]() He was a happily married father of two grown girls, known throughout his hometown as a hardworking mechanic. Just three weeks earlier, Jon had felt fine. He could not see a way through the destructive illness that had taken so much from him. He was barely conscious, breathing through a ventilator and paralyzed in the ICU. Jon Bratsch had accepted that he was going to die.
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