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Family hopes for firefighter's recovery
By RYAN DAVIS, Times Staff Writer SHADY HILLS -- A week before Christmas, Emiko and David Sota already knew where they would open their gifts. "Inside my daddy's room so he can see what we get," 8-year-old Emiko said. Her 6-year-old brother nodded approvingly. Daddy used to fight fires, but he can't walk into the family room anymore. Former Pasco County firefighter and EMT Vincent Sota, 47, can't breathe or eat by himself. He spent seven months in the hospital this year. He hasn't been able to utter a word in more than eight months. He's been rendered a quadriplegic. He communicates with his wife, Mary, by blinking. The root of the trouble is an infected tick, a burrowing creature no larger than one number in the date on a penny. It took 15 doctors, but eventually Sota was diagnosed with Lyme disease, an inflammatory disease characterized by skin changes, joint inflammation and flulike symptoms. He got it from a deer tick in Florida, his wife said. He has also been diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, a fatal disease better known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's disease. But Mary Sota firmly believes the Lyme disease has caused the symptoms of ALS. In a year, she hopes he's walking and talking, she said. "I would love to hear his voice again," Mary said. After a St. Petersburg Times article last December, Sota and his wife came to know about 90 Lyme disease sufferers across the United States -- even some overseas -- who were misdiagnosed with ALS. After that, he got worse. He has just begun to get better, Mary said. The worst day was April 5. For 10 years Vincent Sota responded to 911 calls. That day his wife had to call 911 to save his life. Paramedics had to stick a tube down his throat so he could breathe. His 6-foot-2, 220-pound frame withered to 131 pounds. He went to Spring Hill Regional Medical Center and then to the former Vencor Hospital, now Kindred Hospital in Tampa. It took months for Mary Sota to persuade doctors to treat her husband for Lyme disease. He responded to the treatment, improved slightly and returned home Nov. 8. He lives in a bed. His children climb the bed to kiss him. Mary Sota sleeps at his side -- never more than four hours a time, always on an air mattress. She has used some of the more than $4,000, which firefighters have raised, to hire a nurse who will help the family through January. Mary Sota can't stop thanking firefighters and the Pasco Sheriff's Office, where she was a printing assistant, for their help. For 9 1/2 months, firefighters volunteered to cover her husband's shifts so he could get paid until disability and Medicare were approved. Sheriff's employees continue to donate money. The kids have gotten gifts and meals. But Christmas isn't the holiday Mary Sota, who proposed to her husband, uses to mark time. The couple celebrated their 11th wedding anniversary on Sept. 7. "He owes me 39 more," she said. "I'm not letting him go until I get 39 more years."
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From today's Pasco Times |
