Raising Awareness on GBS (Guillain-Barré Syndrome) by sharing my story

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About 7 years ago I contacted GBS, a serious disorder that occurs when the body's defense (immune) system starts attacking part of the nervous system. This leads to nerve inflammation that causes muscle weakness and eventually paralysis.

Though being paralyzed at the age of 24 is an intimidating idea to start with, the fact that doctors did not understand what was happening to me made this event a much more devastating one. You really don’t want to be paralyzed, not understanding what’s happening to your body and then have a doctor tell you: “I don’t know what’s wrong with you, all reports seem to be fine”.

I started experiencing weaknesses in my body on a Monday morning back in July 21st, 2008. I was living & working in Cairo back then, serving a field assignment in Procter & Gamble, which I joined only a month earlier. These weaknesses dramatically increased over the following 3 days and reached full paralysis by Thursday. The biggest issue I had was that doctors in Cairo didn't understand what was wrong with me. (Guillain–Barré syndrome is rare, at 1–2 cases per 100,000 people annually).

Luckily I was flown out of Cairo to Beirut on Sunday 27th of July, by that date I lost total control/feeling of both of my legs and arms. In Beirut I was diagnosed by the Clemenceau Medical Center affiliated with Johns Hopkins International (CMC) doctors within a couple of hours after arriving to the emergency room. The magical words that sugar-coated the bitter feelings I was going through were: “You will walk again, It will only take some time”. I remember ignoring the “It will only take some time” part and hanging on the hope that I WILL WALK AGAIN!

Devastated by the fact that this is happening to me only after a couple of months of joining my dream company, I was silly enough to think that Procter & Gamble would lay me off, specially since doctors told everyone to expect a long recovery time that ‘might’ take up to 18 months. 2 days after being admitted in the ER, while struggling with emotions of despair, two inspirational gentlemen, my Director and my GM, walked into my emergency room and said: “Don’t worry about your job, it will be waiting for you and you will continue to receive your salary no matter what. Just focus on getting better!”. These 2 gentlemen never knew the enormous impact their words and visit had on my recovery. Asaad Salhab and Mohamed Samir... Thank you!

With all the negative thoughts erased now, I had no choice but to be strong and fight. Not only fight this invisible syndrome eating up my nerves (which technically had to be stopped by medication) but fight those weak/negative thoughts of surrender that I am sure every ‘unaware’ GBS patient together with their families have. I had no choice but to ignore all the sadness and embarrassment that surrounds paralysis, from the need of assistance in every little personal detail to the very simple blessings that I lost as the ability to scratch your face whenever you want to.

I will forever be thankful to all those who stood by me through this, especially my family and friends. Big thanks for the CMC team and specially Rebecca Farah who managed to stay in touch after all those years. I’m also grateful for all the people who visited me in the hospital.

All it took was persistence, grit and resilience and I was back on my feet in 3 months. Today I am a happier person than most of you, simply because I enjoy the simplest things in life. I enjoy dressing up on my own. I enjoy going to the bathroom all alone. I enjoy the freedom and the genius of the human body design! I simply enjoy walking!

I will leave you with a beautiful quote from the greatest Lebanese writer that ever lived, a quote that inspired me back then and continues to shape my resilience to whatever life throws at me...
"كلما زاد الحزن حفراً في كيانك، زاد الفرح الذي يمكن أن يحتويه الكيان."
(جبران خليل جبران)
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The deeper that sorrow carves into your being the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter's oven?
(Jobran Khalil Jobran)