Tuesday, September 30, 1997
Merkel teen coming home a celebrity
By JOHN STARBUCK / Correspondent
MERKEL - The state's first hantavirus victim to receive a new
experimental treatment is expected to come home today - tired
and 20 pounds lighter, but a celebrity.
Heath Henderson, a junior at Merkel High School, was hospitalized
for a week at Lubbock's University Medical center after becoming
ill while visiting relatives in Lubbock.
Heath is "still recuperating, but it's so much better
than it was," his mother, Dayna, said Monday. "We were
so thankful for the doctors, the nurses and medical technology."
Henderson said her son has become a celebrity since he became
the first patient to receive nitric oxide in his lungs for treatment
of the deadly virus.
After the initial Abilene Reporter-News story was picked up
by the Associated Press, the Merkel resident was featured on the
front page of the New York Times and in newspapers in Canada.
The hospital has also received calls from the Discovery Channel,
Henderson said.
"We're sort of getting notoriety status around here,"
she added.
Although the honor student lost about 20 pounds during the
ordeal, his immune system was not affected.
Heath plans to attend school for a half day Thursday. Then,
if he is able, he wants to go to the pep rally and football game
Friday, his mother said.
His days of playing football again this season may be limited,
however.
"He plans on playing in the last two or three games, but
that's up to his parents and doctors to decide," she added.
Heath must return to the hospital for a checkup in two weeks.
His mother said doctors are overjoyed about his fast recovery.
"They're just beaming around here," she said. "They
can't believe it either."
The family is beaming, too.
"It was God's handiwork that we were here at the right
place at the right time," she said.
Meanwhile, a team of state health officials arrived in Merkel
to begin placing rodent traps around the city, concentrating on
old, abandoned houses. The disease is thought to be transmitted
by airborne particles of rodent waste.
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Copyright ©1997,
Abilene Reporter-News / Texnews / E.W. Scripps Publications
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