It all started one day in June 2007, with a sudden fever and severe vomiting, said David Hancock. He should have gone to hospital, immediately. But he didn't — he thought: If this is a common infection, I'll get over it.
Then he realized it wasn't a common infection.
But it still took 10 days for doctors to make a reliable diagnosis. During these 10 days the then 49-year-old fell into a coma and suffered heart failure — multiple times. His lungs filled with fluid, and his brain became inflamed.
"I was on the other side, with one foot in the other world, so to speak," said David of the experience, when we spoke in 2025.
David had contracted West Nile virus from a mosquito bite on his very own doorstep in Glendale, a city near Phoenix, in the US state of Arizona.
