ASHLAND CITY, TN (WSMV) -
Summer may be coming to an end, but the threat of West Nile Virus is far from over. In Tennessee there have been 12 confirmed cases of the potentially deadly disease, and one Middle Tennessee survivor is now on a crusade to save others.
Adrian Johnson and her sister, Paula Quigley, came to the nail salon Thursday to get spruced up. She and husband Rick Johnson, who happens to be the mayor of Ashland City, are celebrating 40 years of marriage. It's an anniversary the mother of three didn't think she'd live to see.
"My face was swollen. My hands were swollen, my leg - everything was swollen," Johnson said.
Johnson was hanging out Memorial Day weekend in her backyard barbecuing with her family when she was bitten by a mosquito. She told Channel 4 News she didn't think twice about it until that night when her temperature spiked and her family rushed her to Skyline Medical Center in Nashville.
"I had one MRI. They said I wouldn't let them give me another MRI, then I had a spinal tap and I don't remember any of it," she said.
Quigley recalled that night.
"I was scared," Quigley said.
Initially, doctors thought Johnson may have had a stroke. But after more than a week in the hospital, five of those days in intensive care, doctors discovered she had the West Nile Virus.
"The chances of that happening are so rare," Quigley said.
As of Sept. 6, there have been 12 confirmed cases of West Nile Virus across Tennessee. Six of those cases were in Shelby County, and one each in Davidson, Chester, Greene, Hawkins, Haywood and Hickman counties. And with the dog days of summer still not behind us, Johnson wants to warn others to safeguard themselves.
"I thank God every day. It's just a blessing that I'm here because so many people are dying from it," Johnson said.
Symptoms include a high fever, headache, stiffness in the neck and fatigue. Johnson also had a lot of swelling, pain and confusion. Nationwide, health officials fear we're on track for the worst year since West Nile was first detected in the U.S. The Centers for Disease Control has confirmed nearly 2,000 cases this year, 87 of them fatal.
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All states except Alaska and Hawaii have reported at least one case of West Nile virus. (©iStockphoto/Thinkstock)
