The Small Wins are the Great Wins: Patient with Rare Syndrome Achieves Milestones at West Park

John Butcher spent 37 years as a paramedic for the City of Toronto, providing emergency care and transportation to people across the city.

Throughout his years of service, John had completed a few patient transports to UHN-West Park Healthcare Centre but never imagined that he would become a patient there one day.

Struck with Guillain-Barré Syndrome in the summer of 2022, a rare disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the nervous system, John found himself a patient of the medical system he had spent years working in.

What began as tingling and numbness in his extremities devolved into total paralysis of his entire body below the neck within six weeks. The syndrome also caused immense pain in the paralyzed parts of his body.

While there is no cure for Guillain-Barré Syndrome, treatments can help improve symptoms and shorten the duration of the illness. Most patients notice improvement within days to weeks, but some—like John—take significantly longer.

He arrived at West Park in December 2022 on a ventilator and feeding tube, and his recovery journey began.

Physical therapists moved and manipulated his joints to prevent them from seizing up and to prepare them to move again independently while clinicians worked on pain management strategies and treatments.

One day in January, John’s shoulder “felt funny,” and he was able to move it slightly. From there, functionality came back “like a waterfall,” moving down his body and into his hands, albeit slowly.

Each month saw an exciting new milestone—drinking from a cup, breathing on his own for 15 minutes, moving off the ventilator entirely, and lifting his elbows. The staff celebrated these milestones with John, with the nurses making sure to wave when they saw him to encourage him to wave back—something he hadn’t been able to do.

“He’s re-learning skills in a modified way. For us, the small wins, like holding a pen or waving, are the big wins, the great wins,” said Donna Espiritu, Clinical Service Manager.

John is now able to breathe on his own and feed himself, but he still has months of therapy ahead of him.

He says he owes the speed of his recovery to the staff.

“When I started to show signs of improvement they encouraged and assisted me. They had to deal with my severe pain and did so with compassion. My recovery time has been reduced by the excellent treatment at West Park,” John said.

Learn more at WestParkFoundation.ca