Fox River Grove woman, once nearly paralyzed, running 5K

Last December, Erica Cody had the most harrowing experience of her life after she woke up with numb hands and feet. She became weaker by the hour until, by nightfall, she couldn’t walk without falling down.

Cody, 40, of Fox River Grove, was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre syndrome, an autoimmune disorder that attacks the nervous system. Immobile and with a ventilator tube down her throat in the intensive care unit at Advocate Good Shepherd Hospital in Barrington, Cody decided to focus on something positive and set a goal for herself. She would run her first race, the Fox Chase 5K in Fox River Grove.

Today, she will do just that, with family and friends both running and standing in the sidelines in support.

“My girlfriend always runs the Fox Chase. She asked me to do it and I always had some stupid excuse,” Cody said. “I knew from that moment (in the ICU), I knew. I thought, ‘I’m going for this, this is going to happen.’”

Cody’s husband, Mike, said that during her recovery his wife has shown endless strength. The couple has four children, ages 16 months to 22.

“The one thing I have learned about her is that when she puts her mind to it, it’s over. There is nothing she can’t do. She’s an amazing, amazing woman,” he said.

Erica Cody, in turn, credits her husband for his unfailing support and encouragement. After about a week in the hospital, she recovered enough to be released from the ICU to a rehab facility, but the Codys decided Erica would go home and they would work together on her rehab.

There was a lot of pain, all the time, she said. “It’s just like when your arm goes to sleep and coming back you feel tingling and pain. Try that everywhere,” she said. “I have given natural childbirth. This buried that.”

Her husband, a pediatric chiropractor, devised a regimen based on how babies learn to walk, Erica Cody explained.

“First you move your head, then you roll over, then you start pushing up, then get on the floor and start crawling,” she said. “I never knew crawling could be so hard.”

Within the first month, she was able to take her first 11 steps, and by March she was walking again, albeit stiffly. She started working on strength and balance with a trainer, and on April 12 she ran a quarter-mile at a 2 mph pace on the treadmill.

“I thought I was going to die. I slept four or five hours after,” she said.

On Saturday, her goal is to run the race in less than 32 minutes. “I feel ready. I feel emotional, and I am just thankful,” she said, adding that family, friends and even her son’s preschool pitched in to help with support such as cooked meals.

Guillain-Barre syndrome is a “nasty, nasty illness” that can have multiple — sometimes unknown — causes, including bacterial gastroenteritis, viral infections, autoimmune diseases, or the flu vaccine, said Dr. Firas Dairi, an ICU and lung specialist at Good Shepherd who treated Cody.

He pointed out that the risk of dying from influenza is much higher.

Although recovering quickly from Guillain Barre is not unusual, “(Erica) had an amazing response to therapy,” Dairi said. “She could have gone the other way. Some patients may be in the hospital for months. It is very exciting for us to see her run the 5K.”

The Codys say they relied on their Christian faith throughout the ordeal.

“I had very, very dark hours, but I knew I wasn’t going to die. I knew I had a fight,” Cody said. “Physically, I don’t think I’ll ever be 100 percent, but the little bit of trouble I have with my lower legs, I’ll take it. It’s all right.”