Man sees life-threatening illness as a gift

Man sees life-threatening illness as a gift. Paul Kocher had flesh eating disease and was treated at Sunnybrook Hospital and St. John's Rehabilitation. Staff photo/DAN PEARCE

It's an odd term for a journey that left him near death four years ago after he contracted necrotizing fasciitis, commonly called flesh-eating disease.

"I very much treat it as a gift. I know this sounds hokey but it is a gift," the upbeat and resilient Leaside married father of three said.

"It is an opportunity to live when you weren't expected to live. And the support I got was humbling."

Sitting on a couch in his basement, just steps away from the elliptical machine he uses daily to train for a March fundraising walk for North York's St. John's Rehab where he spent a month recuperating,

Kocher takes off his shoes and socks.

The toes of his purple-tinged left foot have been amputated. His legs, particularly the left one, bear the scars and skin grafts that his gift left behind.

Kocher, an executive with IBM, had always prided himself on being a healthy guy before he came down with what he initially thought was a nasty case of the flu on March 2, 2008.

"I never get sick. I can count on less than one hand the number of sick days I've had in my life," said Kocher.

Picking up a bug didn't seem strange, especially since his wife, Lisa, was on her second course of antibiotics for strep throat. Only in hindsight did it become apparent that Lisa's infection was possibly the root cause of Kocher's woes, although for him it took a debilitating turn.

Although the then-42-year-old was feeling clammy and achy that Sunday four years ago, he simply downed a couple of ibuprofen, an unusual decision for someone who normally avoided medication, and fulfilled his role as an usher at church.

While Kocher expected to rebound quickly, he grew progressively ill that week, although he continued working from home.

By Wednesday, Kocher added a new complaint to his worsening symptoms - pain in his left leg that would become increasingly excruciating.

Still, no one, including Kocher, realized the seriousness of his condition yet.

One of his partners at work, who shares Kocher's dry, cutting sense of humour, sent out a note rescheduling a meeting that Kocher would clearly not be able to attend. "Paul has the flu today...a well-known strain called Labatt-itus," it read.

By Thursday, however, Kocher told Lisa he needed to go to the hospital and she took him to Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre.

While Kocher expected his self-diagnosis of flu would mean waiting in the emergency room for hours, fortunately the triage nurse's assessment of his vital signs and symptoms indicated something was terribly wrong.

Kocher was whisked away in a wheelchair and given three rounds of morphine to alleviate his pain.

He was hooked up to a number of intravenous medications and given several medical tests. Despite a deep thirst, he wasn't allowed to drink anything because doctors feared one of his kidneys had shut down.

Although he was heavily drugged, Kocher overheard doctors debating the best way to treat him. A visiting physician from Norway advised his colleagues that immediate surgery was the only option to stop the disease from spreading and to prevent toxic shock syndrome, which can lead to multiple organ failure and other complications.

Later, the Norwegian doctor would tell Kocher that flesh-eating disease is more common in Nordic countries and parts of Asia. He knew how quickly the infection could spread and kill a patient.

After being admitted to the critical care unit, Kocher was examined by a number of medical teams, such as general surgery, plastics and orthopedics in advance of the operation.

Urology was one of the last teams to examine him - and found the disease was spreading.

Kocher underwent the first of 12 surgical procedures, including four operations to remove dead tissue and eight other procedures to receive skin grafts and to change the dressings on his legs.

Fortunately, although doctors had debated amputating his leg and removing one of his kidneys, he was able to keep the limb and organ.

Following the first operation, Kocher was in a coma-like state for about 10 days. He contracted toxic shock syndrome and C. difficile.

One of his worst days came when he was told the toes on his left foot would need to be amputated.

Kocher said he initially didn't take the news well, although he would later feel the loss of his toes paled in comparison to what might have happened to him.

"I thought, 'I'm never going to be the same,' but ever since then I'm like, 'Whining about it is not going to change (things),'" he said.

He was determined to recover as quickly as possible, aided by a tenacious attitude and sense of humour.

But there was no doubt the illness had taken its toll, including on his wife and young children, Madeline, James and Sarah.

After two months in Sunnybrook, Kocher was finally ready to be discharged from hospital.

Although his treatment in an acute care hospital had come to an end, Kocher now needed treatment at a rehabilitation facility. A couple of his business partners lobbied for him to be admitted to St. John's.

"I was transferred to St. John's shortly thereafter and it turned out to be a great decision," said Kocher.

"Sunnybrook saved my life. St. John's gave me my quality of life."

While others may have looked at the ordeal as a curse, Kocher said he was blessed with love and support of his wife, children, family, friends colleagues and medical staff.

And he rhymes off a series of fortunate events that fell in his favour, aware that missing any one of them could have left him dead: Getting sick before a planned March break trip to the U.S. that at the very least could have drained him financially; the triage nurse recognizing his symptoms; the Norwegian doctor making the case for immediate surgery; and the care he received at Sunnybrook and St. John's.

Meanwhile, Kocher, who knows he could face amputation of more of his left foot or leg in the future, hopes his story prompts other people to seek immediate medical attention if they experience unusual symptoms.

Already, his misfortune has helped someone else. One of his business partners has a friend who exhibited similar symptoms. Having seen what Kocher suffered, the partner insisted on taking his friend to the hospital and pushing medical staff to perform tests. The friend was diagnosed with flesh-eating disease and a doctor later said he may not have lived if he had come to the hospital even six hours later.

Four years later, Kocher, who now serves on the board of St. John's foundation, is turning his attention to the hospital's five-kilometre run/walk on March 18.

"I think it's a great opportunity for me to give back to the hospital and bring attention to the great work they do," he said. "I want the place to be there for people like me and others going forward."

While some have suggested Kocher participate in the event as a relay team with his family, he has his heart set on walking the entire distance with Lisa and their children.

He said the only thing holding him back is a blood blister he picked up at the end of his left foot last fall. Kocher was serving as jury foreman in a second-degree murder trial and developed the blood blister while walking between the courthouse and his office to squeeze in some work.

When people hear about Kocher's experience, they inevitably remark on his positive attitude, But he doesn't view his approach as anything special.

"People say, 'You're inspiring,' and (I think), Ugh, I'm not inspiring. I just do what I do," he said smiling.

"I had an opportunity to be miserable for a long time. I thought, 'Where is that going to get you?' I don't want to be preachy or magnanimous. It is just who I am. People had it far worse than me. Some people will never leave the hospital."