Medical mystery

Looking back at the past month, Gabe Cleave will remark on how he almost lost his wife, and on top of that his sanity, watching her diminish from an inexplicable illness.

But he didn't lose his faith.

"Without God helping me throughout all this, and without God in Aubrey's and my life, we would have been completely lost," Gabe said. "He obviously has a plan for both of us."

Aubrey, 24, had complained of a sore throat and cough early in January, which the couple's doctor diagnosed as acid reflux.

The medication helped, Gabe said. Her chest felt all but back to normal the night of Jan. 24, though she mentioned her body ached as if she had a cold.

It grew worse through the night, her legs feeling numb as if they were falling asleep, which the couple assumed was just that.

But by morning, when Gabe was preparing for work, his wife called to him from the bed that she couldn't move her legs.

"I picked her out of bed, put her on her feet and she just collapsed," said Gabe, 25. "They had no strength in them at all."

He drove her to their family doctor, who urged them to go to Kootenai Medical Center immediately.

A few hours after being admitted, the numbness was creeping up from her legs through her torso, until she couldn't move her stomach, her arms, her tongue, as if her brain was turning off switches.

"After two hours of being there the doctor told us we had to be admitted to ICU (intensive care unit), just because of how fast she was getting worse," Gabe said.

As she continued to regress, doctors conducted a spinal tap to look for infections or bleeding around the brain.

They found no solid diagnosis, and she only got worse.

By Monday night, her husband said, Aubrey's speech was slurred and she "just wasn't really all there mentally."

The next morning, she had slipped into a semi-coma, with no reflexes, no speech, no movement at all.

"It's so hard to see someone you love, especially your wife, go through all of it and not have any answers to what it is," said Gabe, adding that the Post Falls couple has been married since last July.

The staff labored to peg down a cause. They conducted another spinal tap, and then three MRIs. They took about 30 blood tests, Gabe estimated.

"They didn't find anything," he said.

As nearly a week passed with no changes, doctors tried to prepare him.

There was no telling how long she would be comatose, they said, or if she ever would come out of it at all.

"The hardest part was just not knowing anything at all about what was going on," Gabe said. "The whole time they said they didn't know what it was and the things they narrowed it down to they have no cure for. They said it was just a matter of time and seeing every day if she got worse or if she got better."

So he prayed, and waited.

And then prayed some more.

"That pretty much got me through," he said. "Just praying and knowing that God had it under control and knew what he was doing."

Just into Aubrey's second week at the hospital, she opened her eyes.

And her shoulder started to twitch.

"Slowly she started to show little signs of improvement," he said.

Day by day, there were more. They were still small motions, but enough to rock the medical staff. For instance, if asked about pain, her head would slightly turn for 'No,' or raise mildly for 'Yes.'

One day, she actually managed to slowly, and with great effort, slur the word "No."

"That was the beginning of it," Gabe said.

Through the next several days, she started progressing little by little, getting to the point she could speak the names of those around her.

"It was like teaching a kid how to talk," Gabe said. "She was slowly waking up out of the coma, becoming aware of her surroundings. She kind of knew what was going on, and able to slowly start to answer questions."

Amazed at her progression, the doctors took her out of ICU. About a week ago, they transferred her to St. Luke's Rehabilitation Institute in Spokane.

"They said they never imagined her to recover as far as she has," Gabe said.

Still building her vocabulary, she is walking with the help of a walker. She can even manage a few steps without it, he said.

She no longer needs assistance eating, he added.

"She is doing so amazing," he said.

Doctors can't pin down how much she'll recover. She might get back to 80 percent, or 70, or 60, Gabe said.

"They said the only way they'll know if she will recover 100 percent is once she's 100 percent recovered," he said.

Doctors couldn't comment on Aubrey's illness due to confidentiality issues.

If she continues to advance like she is now, however, Gabe hopes to take her home in a few weeks.

She might even be able to attend a benefit for the couple on March 6, when friends and family will hold a spaghetti dinner fundraiser to help with the Cleaves' hospital bills.

"Seventeen days in Kootenai Medical Center in the ICU is definitely pricey," he said. "We do have insurance. I just don't know what the final amount will be after all is said and done."

He just returned to work, he added, as he discovered the time off tending to his wife was unpaid. Aubrey is a stay-at-home wife.

Jeani Waco, Gabe's aunt who is setting up the benefit, said the event will include a spaghetti meal and silent auction.

"First it's a celebration for the miracle," Waco said of Aubrey's recovery. "It's also for support, because they're starting their lives out together. We want to support them and help them pay their bills."

The dinner will be from 4:30 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, March 6 at The Altar at 901 E. Best Ave. in Coeur d'Alene. Plates are $10, and free for children 5 and younger.

Gabe said he is grateful to the medical staff at KMC, as well as members of Real Life Ministries who prayed for the couple throughout the past several weeks.

"It's been amazing just to see the love of family and friends and people I've never met," Gabe said. "All the prayers and support, it's been overwhelming."