By STAN MADDUX Indiana Correspondent EAU CLAIRE, Mich. — A third-generation fruit farmer in southwestern Michigan with Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) is no longer on a respirator, but his prognosis remained uncertain at press time, seven weeks after contracting the often deadly virus. Bill Teichman, 57, is the owner of Tree-Mendus Fruit Farm near Eau Claire. His sister in-law, Irene Latack, said when asked to, he has occasionally squeezed the hand of a loved one in recent weeks. He’s also moved his arm and opens his eyes now after waking up from what she described as “a deep sleep.” “It’s day by day. There’s a lot of prayer circles going for him, and we haven’t given up hope,” Latack said. Teichman on Oct. 2 was transferred from Spectrum Health-Blodgett Hospital in Grand Rapids to nearby to Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation. Latack said he still has swelling on his brain caused by the mosquito-transmitted virus. Whether he has suffered any brain damage is not yet known. “The prognosis for encephalitis is unpredictable. You just don’t know which parts of the brain have been damaged and it takes an extremely long time for that swelling to go down. As the swelling goes down, your responses start to come back and then you learn what has been damaged and what hasn’t been damaged,” Latack explained. She said Teichman is undergoing 15 hours of physical therapy a week. His limbs and other body parts must be moved by therapists, but the muscle tone, especially in his arms, has improved. “If you would stand him up, he’d fall. If you were to sit him up, he’d fall. He can’t hold a pencil. We don’t even know if he recognizes us,” she added. His wife, Monica, is with him every day getting him dressed, assisting in his physical therapy, and providing moral support for her husband, who overcame a bout of pneumonia during his hospitalization. And Latack has been with her sister for much of the time, looking for even the slightest improvement in his condition. “From his neck down everything is great. His heart is good. His liver is good. He’s got good blood flow through his body. It’s the motor function that’s not working,” she noted. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one-third of people contracting the EEE virus – often causing inflammation of the brain – die, while many survivors have ongoing neurological problems. There is no cure, according to the agency. Teichman’s farm is in Berrien County, one of 15 southern Michigan counties where spraying for mosquitoes began Oct. 1 to try to prevent the virus from spreading, according to the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services (MDHHS). The state has recorded nine human cases of the virus in six counties and four deaths, so far, this year, MDHHS said. The deaths were in Kalamazoo, Van Buren, and Cass counties. At least six other human deaths related to the virus have been reported in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and Rhode Island. By last week, a GoFundMe page created on Sept. 11 online to help the Teichman family had raised more than $67,000 of the $80,000 goal. Latack said the money will be used to help pay medical bills and build a ramp for Teichman to get inside his residence, and other remodeling on the inside to make the home functional for someone using a wheelchair or walker. The work to be done is not fully known because of the recovery time for EEE patients being so unpredictable. “We just don’t know what his state is going to be,” she said. Apples, cherries, peaches, plums, pears, nectarines, apricots, and black and red raspberries are grown at the 450-plus-acre Teichman farm, which has hosted the International Cherry Pit Spit contest for 47 consecutive years. Also on-site is a country market selling products like cherry topping, ciders, and apple butter. The grounds are made available for private events like weddings, receptions, church outings and group picnics. According to the family, the farm was started more than 80 years ago when William and Leone Teichman planted 15 acres of Jonathan apples on a hillcrest. Known then as Skyline Orchards, it evolved into a U-pick operation three years after being purchased by their son, Herb, in 1969. |
