A Northern Michigan farmer is back home after spending 65 days in three hospitals battling and recovering from West Nile Virus.
Nine years ago Gary Shepherd took a chance and bought Bonz Beach Farms in Onaway.
“I was trimming some trees outback, one of them was a maple tree,” Shepherd said. “It started dripping some sap and I’m going like ahh I can make maple syrup here.”
What started as his signature maple syrup quickly turned to produce.
“Like everything I get involved with it just quickly spirals out of control, like getting West Nile Virus, just spirals out of control,” Shepherd said.
And he would know.
Last fall, Shepherd went on a family trip to Arizona. When he got back, he fell ill.
“Just in a few days I went from no appetite to, I couldn’t even get out of bed,” Shepherd said.
He was rushed to the hospital.
“And that’s the last thing I remember, that was Nov. 4, until Dec. 22,” Shepherd said.
Doctors diagnosed Shepherd with West Nile virus.
He had gotten quite ill, and needed his gallbladder removed. He was then placed on a ventilator for 16 days.
“I just, I don’t have any recollection of that,” Shepherd said.
When Shepherd woke up, it was weeks later-and he was at his third hospital, Mary Free Bed in Grand Rapids.
“The first few days it really was a struggle,” Shepherd said. “They had a psychiatrist come in and see me.”
They wanted to make sure he was not just recovering physically, but mentally as well.
“She goes, ‘no no, how do you feel?’ And I said ‘well, to be honest with you. If you put a couple pills on that nightstand I would take them if I could just end all this and I’m done,” Shepherd said, “She was like ‘no, no you don’t know how far you’ve come.”
That was a turning point in his recovery.
“The next morning I just had an epiphany, you know, everyone else has been doing all they can for you and it’s your turn to start pulling the oars,” Shepherd said. “You need to do everything you can, it’s your turn to work.”
And he did, with his rehab team by his side.
In the end, Shepherd had one goal: getting back to the farm.
“I’m 63 years old, I don’t want to run a triathlon,” Shepherd said. “I just want to go in the woods and tap 4,200 trees and make maple syrup this spring.”
Shepherd’s now back home at the farm and he’s working harder than ever.
“I’m doing more than I did before,” Shepherd said. “We went beyond where we’re at.”
He’s not just working harder, but savoring each moment. Even the simple things like feeding fish at his pond.
“Like every minute means something, everything has more meaning now,” Shepherd said. “Everything is important.”
To learn more about the West Nile virus from the Centers for Disease Control, .
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