Teenager Becomes Temporarily Paralyzed From Virus

• Kellen Knutson developed a serious illness that landed him in the hospital for two months where he lost 30 pounds.
• He was diagnosed with acute flaccid myelitis, a polio-like illness that affects the nerves in the spinal cord.
• This illness, which occurred after 2 insect bites, caused paralysis from which he is still recovering.

Last March, Kellen Knutson stayed home from school with what his parents thought was a common cold. But when he became sicker over the next week, his family became concerned. On Saturday, the seventh grader from Bimidji, Minn., couldn't stop throwing up. He seemed crazy and had trouble walking to the bathroom.

“Something was definitely wrong,” said his mother, Heather Knutson, an oncology dietitian with the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. “Everything was getting worse. We knew something was wrong.

On April 1, 2023, his parents took him to the emergency room where he was given fluids and anti-nausea medication before being sent home. Two days later, he was back in the hospital, unable to urinate on his own.

“It was painful,” recalls Kellen, now 14. Her parents were told that urine retention could be a rare side effect of anti-nausea medications. His bladder was emptied and he was sent home this time with a catheter.

Alarmed, his parents contacted their family's doctors and health professionals. “We were calling our resources and saying, 'We don't want to just go to the emergency room and be sent home,'” her mother said.

At that point, Kellen couldn't stand, his eyes were rolling back in his head, and he couldn't hold a conversation, said his father Philip, who works for a nonprofit. He couldn't support his neck and vomited dark bile into his stomach.

On April 5, Kellen's parents had to use an office chair to wheel him to the car so he could see a new pediatrician. She did some tests, then ordered a spinal tap.

“I have no memory of any of that,” Kellen says.

It was determined he needed more serious care, so he was transported 220 miles to Children's Minnesota – in a snowstorm – where he was admitted to the pediatric intensive care unit.

“It took us weeks to start getting answers,” his mother said. “It seemed like every day, or every other day, they were coming in and ordering different tests.”

Kellen was given high-dose steroids and combinations of different antibiotics and underwent several rounds of special procedures as doctors searched for answers. He was sedated for about three weeks; during that time he lost about 30 pounds. and had more than a dozen machines attached to his body.

“As a parent, there were times in those first weeks when I asked myself, ‘Is it better if he dies?’ Because it was a real struggle,” Philip admits. “He was close to death and it was difficult to see his body struggling like that. He was just skin and bones.”

After about four weeks, Kellen received a presumed diagnosis of acute flaccid myelitis (AFM), a rare neurological disorder similar to polio that affects nerve cells in the gray matter of the spinal cord.

A four-hour MRI confirmed the diagnosis.

“We could see the whole spinal cord and the brainstem all the way to the end was inflamed,” his mother said. “It affected every nerve in his entire body.”

Doctors weren't sure which nerves were reconnecting, she said. “At one point we were told he would probably be in a wheelchair and might have difficulty breathing.”

It was a devastating diagnosis, says Philip.

“It led us to plan what life would be like – we thought part of him would be paralyzed, maybe forever, we weren't sure, he said. “If he needs to move in a different way, we will find a solution.”

Before his health issue, Kellen was a top student who competed in triathlons. He was on his college's varsity swim team and loved robotics and sitcoms. Now his parents decorated his hospital room with quotes from Parks and Recreation, Office And Ted Lasso.

Two days after the MRI, another neurologist told them that even with significant swelling, the results can sometimes be good. “It was a bit of hope,” Phillip says.

And then, around mid-April, Kellen wiggled a toe. This was very encouraging – it meant he still had the ability to move.

Over the next few months, Kellen worked tirelessly with her occupational therapists, physical therapists and speech therapists to relearn how to walk, talk and write. A GoFundMe has been set up to help cover costs.

“He’s one of the most motivated and strong kids I’ve ever met,” says Jeanna Sommer, Kellen’s occupational therapist at Children’s Minnesota. “Often during our rehab we had to remind Kellen to take breaks. He worked hard every day.”

He even did his exercises, from squeezing a stress ball to raising his arms above his head, while sitting in bed with nothing else to do.

“All I could strengthen at that point was one more thing I could do when I was sitting there all the time,” says Kellen, explaining why he continued to push himself.

Kellen set a goal to get out of his wheelchair when he left Children's Minnesota on May 23. And he achieved it.

“In general, with this diagnosis, a full recovery is often not expected,” says Mackenzie Dwyer, Kellen's physical therapist at Children's Minnesota. “From him needing 100 percent assistance just to sit up in bed, to requiring very minimal assistance getting up from a wheelchair by the time he leaves is quite remarkable. ”

Kellen was transferred to an inpatient rehabilitation center until June 30. This time he decided that when he left he wanted to be able to walk to the car. While he mainly used crutches, on the day he was discharged, “he took five or six steps without crutches to the car,” his father said.

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Although there is no way to know exactly how Kellen contracted AFM, he tested positive for two different rare viruses: Powassan, a tick-borne virus, and Jamestown Canyon virus, carried by mosquitoes .

“Both, or even one of them, could have been the cause of the onset of this disease,” explains his mother. Although AFM is transmitted by mosquitoes, doctors cannot say with certainty that it is the cause of Kellen's condition.

His parents learned that the two insects carrying these viruses are present in their town after the snow melts.

But none of that mattered to Kellen. “I was like, 'I'm alive!' Everything here is a bonus,” he says.

In the fall of 2024, Kellen returned to school on crutches and a wheelchair. At first he had to use leg braces, but eventually he was able to walk on his own.

He also joined the swim team. Before his illness he had specialized in butterfly and endurance races, but last winter, from November 2023 to February 2024, he swam a 50 meter butterfly medley and a 100 meter backstroke.

“It was new to me,” he said. “I'm fine, it's almost back to normal, better than I expected. I walk well. I was able to swim the entire swimming season. He even participated in the sectional tournament.

He still attends physical therapy every two weeks to regain strength and muscle, but he feels great with his progress.

“My whole outlook on things changed,” Kellen says. “It affected me, it changed my mindset a little bit. You don't know what other people are going through. It’s easy to take things for granted.”

Her parents agree and say they are spending more time together as a family, including Kellen's 10-year-old brother. Recently they all went to New York to see Hamilton on Broadway. They also like to play board games together.

“We had times where we were angry or frustrated,” Heather says. “But Kellen never complained or got angry about his situation. We learned a lot about him: he has a lot of courage. He's very comfortable being uncomfortable and he can work hard. And he handled it with more grace than we did as adults.