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By Jack Beresford
Senior Reporter
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A mom of one posted footage online of her husband happily playing with their baby, just days before he would be struck down by a mystery illness.
It is difficult for Dale Paul from Abbotsford, British Columbia, to watch the video of her husband, Joseph Kardelis, laughing and cuddling their daughter Jordyn. "I miss those days," she told Newsweek, "before all this happened. But we will get back there eventually."
Paul and her family are still struggling to come to terms with what happened to Kardelis, a fit and healthy man struck down for reasons that are difficult to explain fully.
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It began around the time this clip was filmed. "He came home from work and thought he had a pinched nerve or something," Paul said. "His hands were just tingly and his back hurt so he thought he was just overworked."
Kardelis visited a chiropractor, but a day later, his condition worsened. "He was throwing up and couldn't walk very well so we went to the hospital," Paul said. "They didn't know what was wrong at first, so we left, but then the next day, he couldn't even walk at all."
Paul called an ambulance. It was then at the hospital that they finally got a diagnosis. Kardelis was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). It is a rare autoimmune disorder that affects 3,000 to 6,000 people in the U.S. every year, according to the CDC.
GBS is a very serious condition caused when the body's immune system attacks its own peripheral nerves, with the damage resulting in muscle weakness and, sometimes, paralysis.
In the case of Kardelis, his condition worsened quickly. "Within a couple days, he was already in the ICU and on a ventilator because all the nerves to the lungs were being destroyed," Paul said. "He was in a coma for a week until they could wake him up."
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Paul can recall doctors noting how they had not seen a case of GBS as severe as Kardelis's. "He ended up getting pneumonia, which could have caused death on its own," she said. "When he was woken up from his coma, his heart rate was all over the place, and he was put on medication because his heart would stop for several seconds, so they put in a temporary pace maker, only for a few days."
All told, Kardelis spent several months in hospital, many of which saw him living with a feeding tube and trach until he began to regain movement in his fingers and arms. During this time, Paul had to contend with not only caring for their infant daughter as a single parent but also the very real prospect she might lose her husband.
"I was terrified," Paul said, "especially when they said he had to be intubated, and they said if he ends up getting pneumonia, that's the reason why people die with GBS. Having to become a single parent with a young baby was very hard. I was lucky to have my mother and his mother come from Alberta to support me for a while."
Kardelis was eventually transferred to a care facility and is now able to walk with a walker. "He did lots of physiotherapy and is still doing it," she said. "He still isn't at 100 percent, but in time, it will come."
Kardelis isn't ready to go back to work yet and, as the family's main provider, that's put a further strain on their lives. Thankfully, Paul has been able to turn to friends and family for help. In the meantime, she has set up a GoFundMe to help cover the ongoing costs of her husband's care and is trying to raise awareness about GBS by posting videos to TikTok under the handle @dalepaul457. That is where she shared the clip of Kardelis in those happier, simpler times before he was struck down.
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The frightening reality is that the true cause of GBS is not fully understood. It is thought to occur following an infection of some kind involving a virus or bacteria.
"We're still not really too sure what caused it," Paul said. "It was some sort of virus he got. He tested positive for mono, but the tingling in his fingers started several days before he was hospitalized."
Paul said she hopes, above all else, that the video and Kardelis's story serve as reminders of the importance of enjoying the time we have together. "Remember to hug your loved ones and tell them you love them all the time," Paul said. "You never really know when something like this could happen to someone you love."
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