Dewey Barber flew to Ann Arbor to watch Oklahoma take on Michigan at the Big House, but before kickoff he woke up unable to move his legs and couldn't get out of bed. Instead of a football weekend, he's spent the past several weeks fighting for his health in a Michigan hospital, placed on a ventilator and diagnosed with a rare neurological disorder that has left his family scrambling to get him back to Oklahoma.
Barber has been hospitalized in Michigan since Sept. 11, according to KOCO. His daughter, Tosha Inman, said that before the game he woke up and couldn't move his legs, and he couldn't get out of bed. Doctors placed him on a ventilator on Sept. 12 and determined he had Guillain-Barré syndrome, Inman said, and he was started on treatment right away.
Guillain-Barré syndrome is an autoimmune neuropathy in which the immune system attacks the body's own nerves, according to University of Michigan Health. The condition is marked by the rapid onset of numbness, weakness, and often paralysis of the legs, arms, breathing muscles, and face, the health system explains. Most people recover with few lasting symptoms, though the health system notes that recovery can take several months.
Awake, Communicating, But Facing a Long Road
Despite the ventilator, Inman said her father is not unconscious. He is able to communicate with head nods and head shakes when he's awake, she said, though he also has partial paralysis on one side of his face. Inman said he will need some serious care as treatment continues, underscoring just how much support the family now anticipates he'll need in the weeks ahead.
Some clinical research on the condition, while limited in scope, notes that respiratory failure in Guillain-Barré syndrome merits close attention from caregivers because emergency intubation can carry serious risks, according to a PubMed-indexed study. A separate PubMed-indexed review notes that treatments such as plasma exchange and intravenous immunoglobulins have, in general, reduced both how many patients need ventilation and how long that ventilation lasts.
A Costly Trip Home
Barber's family is now arranging to fly him home to Oklahoma, but the plan hinges on a medical transport that insurance will not cover, Inman said. The station's report notes that Angel Med-Flight is on standby for the transfer, waiting only on a referral that Inman said was expected within a couple of hours. The flight itself is not an ordinary trip: it's a private plane fitted with a full intensive care unit, staffed by medical personnel who can care for Barber in the air.
Because insurance won't pick up the cost, Inman started a GoFundMe campaign to help pay for the flight, an idea she said Michigan medical staff encouraged her to pursue. Inman's mother may fly alongside Barber, and per the same account, the family is treating the trip home as the next urgent step after weeks of uncertainty. As Inman put it, it's time to get him home.
