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TwitThisWeaned Off Life Support
As a precaution, the entire family, including an older son and Beth's husband, Kenneth, were treated with heavy-duty antibiotics and a nasal ointment. "I'm haunted by the thought that I might have innocently passed this on to my baby," says Beth. However, doctors never pinpointed the source of her daughter's infection.John, too, worries that he may have infected his child, given the elder Zack's history of boils, one of which swelled into a softball-size abscess. But he's never been diagnosed with CA-MRSA, since his doctor didn't do any cultures. How the bacteria invaded Andy's body isn't entirely clear either; the accident didn't leave any visible wound. But the youngster had cracked a bone in his foot in another bike mishap, two weeks earlier. Both injuries may have been contributing factors, says Dr. Congeni, Andy's doctor. "It's easier for this infection to occur in traumatized tissue."
After doctors drained fluid from Andy's chest, his breathing quickly improved. Ten days after being admitted to the hospital, he took his first shaky steps, and five days later, he went home, limping a little. "Seeing my son walk again was like having a thousand-pound weight lifted off my shoulders," says John. Seven weeks later, in October 2006, Andy had recovered enough to return to school. Although the limp has disappeared, the doctor says it might take years for his lungs to fully heal. "He's maybe 85 percent as healthy as he used to be, and gets winded more easily, but he still runs around and rides his bike. You just can't keep that kid down!"
These days, the parents of Drew Griggs, the high school athlete, also have a lot to cheer about. After 18 days in an induced coma, first on a bypass machine, then a regular respirator, he improved enough to be weaned off life support. "We were so elated when the doctors said he was going to make it," says Bonnie. "At first, he was so weak that when we asked him questions, all he could do was nod."
After a month, Drew left the hospital in a gurney and spent a week in a rehab facility. "His muscles had just wasted away," his mom says. The six-foot-one-inch teenager's weight dwindled from his normal 159 pounds to 118. "He was just skin and bones." At 16, he had to relearn how to walk, dress and feed himself.
As the Griggses drove their son home from rehab on March 9, 2005, they spotted handmade signs his friends had placed along the sides of the road. One word at a time, the signs formed a message: "Welcome home, Drew! It's been a long way, but you finally made it back home." At his house, over a hundred people were waiting to greet him. Buoyed by the outpouring of support, Drew battled his way back to fitness and started playing football again in the middle of the 2005 season. When he kicked off in his first game, he got a standing ovation. The Fighting Irish went on to win the state championship in 2006.
Now that Drew is healthy, he's determined to stay that way. Before a game, he sanitizes his helmet with disinfectant wipes and suits up in a freshly laundered uniform. "I clean my gym locker every day and am very particular about hygiene," says the soon-to-be freshman at Valdosta State University, where he's got a spot on the football team. Drew takes two showers a day and washes his hands at every opportunity. "This germ hit me out of nowhere and could have taken my life. I tell people that you just can't be too careful. This thing is out there, and you don't know where it might be hiding."
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