Marty Stillman GBS Recovery Process

On Wednesday, July 12, Mr. Marty woke up feeling strange, experiencing blurry double vision and speech changes. He commented that he was dizzy and felt like he couldn’t walk normally. After visiting a local medical clinic, he was referred to the Baptist ER in Columbus, where they ran numerous tests. By Thursday morning, Marty had almost completely lost all muscle and motor functions and was placed on a ventilator. He was airlifted to Baptist Jackson by mid-afternoon on Thursday.

He was on the ventilator for two weeks, experiencing great pain and complete nerve and muscle paralysis. He is now on a trach and is back and forth between a ventilator and CPAP machine as he fights for the strength to be able to breathe on his own again. His diagnosis is Guillain-Barré Syndrome, which is most likely the Miller Fisher variant—an extremely rare autoimmune disorder that affects approximately one or two out of every million people in the U.S. every year.

Marty is now undergoing IVIG treatment and plasma exchanges that will work to heal his body, but the disease peaks around weeks 2-3 and requires an extremely slow, lengthy recovery process through rehabilitation. Much of it is a waiting process, and most recoveries take place over the course of a few months to a year or longer. In addition to medical expenses, his care and future rehabilitation will require a lengthy stay in Jackson. Faith, his wife of 45 years, has not left his side and will continue to incur expenses for food and lodging. Each of their children has taken turns traveling back and forth from Jackson to take shifts in being by his side and also being there for mental support for their mother as she watches every moment of every process waiting for any signs of improvement. Please consider giving so we can relieve some of the financial burdens of Marty and Faith’s situation and recovery process.