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Local Cheshire athlete battles rare condition
Andre Pereira has battled a rare condition for the last two years after being diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis. (Courtesy: Andre Pereira)

Local Cheshire athlete battles rare condition

CHESHIRE, Conn. (BVM) — Andre Pereira’s last two years have been a tough fight after being diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis. This rare condition is characterised by numb feelings in the lower legs. 

Pereira is only one of two people in the United States to have this condition. During the final game of Pereira’s senior soccer season in November 2019, he started to feel something strange in his movement.

“It was in the second half, and I passed the ball and started running when suddenly the ground started to feel like a marshmallow and got really soft,” Pereira said. “The initial feeling was tingling, sort of when you hit your funny point. I had that from my feet up to my knees.”

After being helped off the field, his athletic trainers were assessing him, but found no answer to what happened. 

During this time on the bench, Pereira still didn’t have any pain, but the numbness was moving up to his abdominal area, and after multiple sporting injuries, Pereira knew this was different.

“My body was moving into shock,” Pereira said. “The trainers literally had to carry me into the locker room because they were worried I could have fainted.”

Once the team dispatched after the game, Pereira was instructed to rest once getting into his room. After three days, Pereira went to see a doctor. During this time, the tingling feeling lowered from his stomach to his waist, but he still couldn’t feel the ground beneath him.

“It still felt like I was stepping into a pillow or something really soft,” Pereira said. “I had used a walking stick because my body didn’t know where it was stepping.”

After bouncing around doctors, Pereira finally got in contact with a spinal specialist who was able to diagnose him. He had to go through a week of MRI’s, X-rays, and steroids. 

During the first two days of MRI’s, it was found that 70-percent of Pereira’s middle spine was inflamed, meaning 30-percent of his entire spine was inflamed. 

“Doctors aren’t meant to get spooked,” Pereira said. “But seeing his facial expressions didn’t help the situation.”

Pereira was put on IV steroids for two hours a day for five days to stop the inflammation. Side effects included Pereira being awake for 24hours straight.

“I would be awake playing FIFA (the video game) until 5 a.m. every night,” Pereira said. “I would then try and force myself to sleep, ultimately ending with me falling asleep for two hours during the MRI, which is unheard of.”

At the end of the five days, the sensation dropped down to his knees, which to this day is the furthest it’s ever dropped. 

“Right now, the feeling from my knees to my feet isn’t that bad,” Pereira said. “But my feet are the worst, I still can’t feel under me.”

Pereira started physical therapy in December 2019, a week and a half after his treatment ended. He was traveling to Hartford, Connecticut where he was working with a physical therapist that had Olympic athletes.

“I was set to meet with the neurologist from the New York Yankees or the Boston Bruins, it was really an awesome team,” Pereira said.

Pereira started with four days a week at physical therapy with the objective to regain the ability to walk. He still had a stutter in his step and would occasionally trip over his step. The process would start with Pereira walking on a treadmill for an hour at a time. After the treadmill, Pereira would practice his balance as that was something he was struggling with.

“My balance was really bad, they would make me balance with my eyes closed,” Pereira said. “I still struggle with balance, which is why leg days are a disaster.”

Throughout his time in physical therapy, Pereira was told he would never be able to play soccer again, exercise or workout again. They feared the inflammation, or the sensation could return but worse. 

In December, Pereira was diagnosed with Transverse Myelitis, which is inflammation in the spine, resulting in a lack of sensation in the lower half of the body.

This ordeal was difficult for Pereira. The first time at physical therapy, he needed someone to catch him from falling off the treadmill. Battling this mentally, to this day, is something he is trying to overcome. 

“Emotionally, it was very tough having to have someone catch me because I had difficulty standing on one leg,” Pereira said.

“There were times that I wanted to quit, after playing soccer my whole life and not being able to step on that field again would leave me in bad head spaces.”

Pereira was put with a psychologist for the first months to help him deal with the mental side of recovery.

“In the beginning I didn’t know what I was going to do with myself, where I was going to be, who I was going to be, it was definitely the lowest point of my life,” Pereira said.

Every day Pereira would see improvements. They were short term results, but it was something that lifted his confidence and optimism. In April 2020, Pereira was back on the field running and kicking the ball again. At this point, his body had to relearn the basics. 

“I remember after this, I went back to the psychologist and said, I’m going to get through this and I’m going to live my life like it never happened,” Pereira said.

Now in Jul 2021, Pereira is regularly playing soccer for summer and weekends, even with the sensations from his legs to his feet. He has to come to grips with his condition and will not allow it to affect him. Pereira once had hope that feeling would return, but now he sees this as a funny story.

“After two years, you kind of just give up hope,” Pereira said. “But, I’m fine though. I’m living my life like I did before the injury and now I just see it as a funny story.”