New Plymouth man struggles to overcome West Nile virus
Disease carried by pest has turned Mark and Sandy Harbolt’s life upside down
By Katie Pizza
Argus Observer
Wednesday, November 12, 2008 10:54 AM PST
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| Mark Harbolt, 48, sit in his living room in the 200 block of East Park Avenue in New Plymouth, Friday. Harbolt was bitten by a West Nile virus-infected mosquito in July and is now unable to work at his job as a steam peeler operator at Heinz Frozen Food Company.
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New Plymouth — For most people, a mosquito bite represents a mild nuisance.
The pest is forgotten as quickly as it is swatted away.
For one New Plymouth man, though, one mosquito bite led to a long-term battle for his health and may jeopardize his job at one of the biggest employers in the area.
For Mark Harbolt, 48, the ordeal started on July 18 when he was struck by a mosquito while working at the Heinz Frozen Food Company, operating the steam peeler. His job, he said, revolved around monitoring the steam from the steam peeler to ensure it was strong enough to peel the potato but weak enough to still leave the potato intact. Harbolt said he was employed with the company for about 10 years.
Harbolt said he realized something was not right as soon as he was bitten.
“It burned,” he said of the mosquito bite.
Then the bite swelled up. He eventually showed the bite to a female co-worker, who agreed it looked pretty bad.
He said discomfort persisted, and he began to have trouble breathing. Harbolt then returned to work a few days later, but had problems doing his job.
“Everything was just a struggle to do,” he said.
While going to lunch, he said, he walked into the hallway and fell against some lockers.
“A foreman asked me ‘Are you O.K.?’ ” he said. “And I said ‘Right now? No.’”
Mark Harbolt’s wife, Sandy Harbolt said he has fallen three or four times since then.
July 24, Mark Harbolt was diagnosed with West Nile virus at Dominican Health Services.
“He was in the hospital for four days,” Sandy Harbolt said.
Mark Harbolt said he continued to encounter problems breathing. He said the feeling was much like if someone tightened a corset around his rib cage.
“I felt someone just beat me to death,” he said.
Sandy Harbolt, 55, said the breathing problems concerned her.
“He couldn’t breathe,” she said. “That’s one of the reasons I took him to the hospital.”
Harbolt is now on short-term disability, which gives him $155 a paycheck, before taxes. This money, Sandy Harbolt said, will stop Jan. 24.
He is also on family medical leave. However, Sandy Harbolt said the money he is receiving from disability is not enough.
“We lost two-thirds of our income,” Sandy Harbolt, who works at the Internet Truckstop said.
Sandy Harbolt said if Mark Harbolt is not able to return to work, the Heinz Frozen Food Company will fire him.
“He’ll lose his job in July,” she said. “FMLA is only a 12-month leave.”
She said this also means he will lose his medical benefits from his work, and he cannot prove the mosquito bit him while he was on the job, which makes him ineligible for workman’s compensation.
Cloudy future
Even now the Harbolts are making every attempt to stay positive. Mark Harbolt is improving, his wife said.
He has become increasingly mobile, moving from a wheelchair to a walker and currently a cane.
“He has gotten better,” she said. “But this may be as good as he’s going to get.”
But casting an optimistic outlook is a challenge for the Harbolts, especially after they learned they will have to leave their home in New Plymouth. The house, situated in the 200 block of East Park Avenue in New Plymouth is where the family — including 13-year-old Niccole Harbolt — lived for the past six years.
With the loss of Mark Harbolt’s income, they can no longer afford the house.
Now the Harbolts will move into another home in Fruitland. Sandy Harbolt said the move makes things more difficult because she will no longer be just two blocks away from home, and they will not be able to keep their black Labrador retriever when they move.
“We lost his truck, and now we’re losing our home,” Sandy Harbolt said.
“From a bug,” Mark Harbolt finished.
“A little, bitty mosquito,” Sandy Harbolt sighed.
Sandy Harbolt said she held three yard sales to help raise money to afford to pay for a deposit and the first month’s rent on another home.
“I’ve been talking to this lady that’s got this farm house on some acreage in Fruitland,” she said.
Harbolt said the woman offered to lower the rent if Sandy Harbolt worked to help clean and paint other rentals.
“So now I’ll have two jobs,” she said.
She also said some members of the community have helped them through this tough time, including $16 given from her co-workers and a $100 check from the Veterans of Foreign Wars.
“A man from the V.F.W. has dropped by with boxes of meat,” Mark Harbolt said. “He just knocks on the door and gives us the box and walks away. It really puts my faith back in people.”
Currently, the Harbolts are looking to speak to a neurologist to learn exactly how much damage the virus, as well as another virus called CRV, or cytomegalovirus, have done to Mark Harbolt’s brain. Sandy Harbolt said Mark Harbolt was born with CRV, but when his West Nile virus hit, the CRV became stronger. Normally, though, CRV is already present in most people by adulthood and does not pose a threat until it is countered with a comprised immune system.
“It’s not losing the house or losing the truck,” she said. “It’s just stuff. If this is the best he’s going to be, I’ll take that. As long as he’s here.” Representatives from the Heinz Frozen Food Company could not be reached for comment.
