‘New life’ after near death

Illness stole hands and toes, but he'll still 'do whatever he wants'

They were three flights of stairs.

To Andy Marso, they might as well have been Mount Everest.

It was late November, seven months after Marso was nearly killed by bacterial meningitis, a disease he’d heard of but knew nothing about.

Marso was supposed to be living at the top of the staircase in Kansas City, Kan., in an apartment with two buddies. He had signed the lease shortly before he got sick.

He looked up the stairs and started climbing on two half-amputated feet, bracing himself with two amputated hands.

It took awhile, but he made it.

“I got up there and finally saw my apartment,” Marso said. “We had all these plans to do things together after college.”

He shrugged.

“It all just kind of fell through.”

Like the apartment, most everything Marso had planned for the past year — walking down Campanile Hill for his Kansas University graduation, starting his career as a sports writer — didn’t go as he had planned.

But Marso, 23, doesn’t have time for self pity as he works to regain his independence.

Andy Marso watches the Minnesota Twins play the Kansas City Royals on television with his mother, Ginny Marso. It has been almost one year since Marso, a Kansas University journalism student who was about to graduate, was infected with bacterial meningitis and nearly died from it.

“Andy doesn’t feel sorry for himself, although he has every right to,” said friend Clay Britton. “I don’t think anyone doubts Andy will be able to do whatever he wants in life.”

Early scare

Last April, Marso — who is from St. Cloud, Minn. — was cruising toward graduation at Kansas University as an honors student majoring in journalism. He already had a job writing sports for the Basehor Sentinel.

Then, one year ago Thursday, Britton, who lived across the hall from him at Pearson Scholarship Hall, found Marso ill in his room and realized something was seriously wrong. He and another friend carried Marso to a car and drove him to Watkins Health Center on campus.

Within hours, he had been flown by air ambulance to the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan., diagnosed with bacterial meningitis and clinging to life.

“As I remember, we basically said he had a 50-50 chance, or less than 50-50 (of living),” said Dr. Bill Barkman, chief of staff at the University of Kansas Hospital. “He was so critically ill in all this, chances were slim he would survive it. He’s lucky to be alive.”

Nine surgeries

What is it?Meningitis is an inflammation of the lining around the brain and spinal cord. Meningitis is usually bacterial or viral. Viral meningitis can be unpleasant, but it is almost never life-threatening and most people quickly make a full recovery. Bacterial meningitis is more serious.What are the effects?Most people who get meningitis survive, but the disease can cause a range of disabilities and problems that may be temporary or permanent, physical or emotional.How is it prevented?Vaccines are available against some types of meningitis. Vaccination is recommended for college students living in residence halls. Sometimes antibiotics are offered to people in close contact to an infected patient.How many are affected?Meningococcal meningitis strikes about 3,000 Americans each year and is responsible for approximately 300 deaths annually. It is estimated that 100 to 125 cases of meningococcal disease occur annually on college campuses and 5 to 15 students die as a result.Sources: Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; Meningitis Foundation of America; Meningitis Research Foundation

After about a month, the meningitis — an infection of the fluid of the spinal cord or fluid that surrounds the brain — was no longer a life-or-death issue. The time since then has been spent in rehabilitation.

Barkman said Marso had much more skin damage than the typical meningitis case. The spread of bacteria throughout the body leads to dead tissue. But he noted that Marso had no brain damage, which sometimes occurs in meningitis patients.

Marso has been through nine surgeries to deal with the skin damage. He’s had layers of dead tissue scraped off, had half of both feet and most of both hands amputated. He still has a thumb on his right hand that he relies on for many daily activities. He has skin grafts on both arms and legs.

His ninth surgery, in February, implanted a contraption into his leg designed to lift his foot to a horizontal position so he can walk again without relying on a protective boot.

It’s hoped that a 10th surgery scheduled for May 2, which will install a similar device on the right leg, will be the last.

“That’s what we’re hoping, but we can never be sure with this,” he said. “The doctors always said I’m not a textbook case. There’s no template about this.”

Next steps

Now, Marso is on a quest to get his life back on track.

He was released from the University of Kansas Hospital in September and has been in outpatient therapy since.

He’s living in an apartment in Overland Park, with his mother, father and grandmother. His mother, Ginny, closed her law practice to care for her son.

Marso is getting out more in recent months. He attended several KU basketball games, went to a show earlier this month at the Lied Center and has plans to go to a Kansas City Royals game this week as they play Marso’s beloved Minnesota Twins.

He’ll also be fitted for a prosthetic left hand this week. He’s finding that little things — flipping open his cell phone, peeling a banana or unwrapping a piece of candy — are next to impossible.

“It’s been grueling,” he said. “It’s a lot of small victories, doing things you used to be able to do without even thinking about them.”

After his May 2 surgery and recovery, the family is considering returning to St. Cloud for more rehabilitation. Marso said he still hoped to pursue a journalism career.

Barkman, the KU doctor, said how much Marso accomplished in his rehabilitation and life was up to him.

“It’s the want-to in this case,” Barkman said. “It’s left him with horrific impairments, but he has a good outlook. It’ll be up to him how much he puts into it, and how determined he is.”

Many touched

KU graduate Andy Marso, right, hangs out with, from left to right, Mark Harries, Vassar junior, Clay Britton, Overland Park, and Will Hedberg, Albuquerque, N.M., during a a welcome back barbecue. The Saturday afternoon party was held at Pearson Hall.

The significant media attention Marso’s story has received has put bacterial meningitis on the radar screen for many KU students.

In part because of the case, KU is requiring all students living in on-campus housing to receive a vaccine for meningitis or sign a waiver saying they’ve received information about the disease.

Ginny Marso also provided almost-daily updates about her son’s battles through a Web site, which gave friends and the university community an inside look into life as a meningitis survivor.

“It’s amazing,” said Ann Brill, journalism dean at KU. “Throughout the university, people stop and ask me if I keep in contact with Andy and how he is. This is something that’s touched a lot of people.”

And for all the attention the family has received, family members are hoping the focus is on how Marso is working to deal with his “new life,” as he calls it.

“What you really want people to remember is how indomitable his spirit has been,” Ginny Marso said of her son. “You want them to remember what courage he’s had — not how horrible it was that it happened.”