Although they did not know it at the time, September 28, 2023 was the day that life was about to change for 28-year-old Tyler Goulet-McMahon and his wife Cheyanne. The couple, married for about three years, had two small children. Upset about the pending transfer of Champlain Day Care to the Conseil des écoles catholiques de l’Est Ontarien, the Vankleek Hill couple attended a school board meeting for parents on September 28.
It is that day that Tyler’s memory fades. Cheyanne says that although Tyler had not been feeling great that day, it was after that meeting that Tyler was complaining of headaches and neck pain. That evening, he felt worse and began vomiting.
“By Saturday morning, he was still throwing up and the rest of us (Cheyanne and their two small children) were not sick,” Cheyanne recalls.
Her worry escalated when Tyler started losing consciousness. They rushed him to hospital.
Following a diagnosis of meningitis, doctors started treating Tyler with antibiotics. Cheyanne says doctors are still unable to confirm whether Tyler had contracted bacterial, viral or fungal meningitis.
Despite antibiotics, Tyler wasn’t improving. On October 6, he was transported by ambulance to the Ottawa Civic Hospital.
“It was Thanksgiving Weekend and on October 8, he was in the ICU in Ottawa and he just continued to deteriorate,” she continued.
For the next month or so, it was touch and go. Tyler was on a ventilator and a tracheotomy was necessary to help him breathe.
Today, Cheyanne tells the story because Tyler himself does not remember any of this. For Cheyanne and Tyler’s parents, at his bedside daily, it was hard to believe that a healthy, fit young man was now unable to move and was clinging to life.
The doctors did not know if he would make it through, the family recalls.
One of Tyler’s Ministry of Transport (MTO) co-workers started a GoFundMe for the family. Their Vankleek Hill community, including the local volunteer fire department, where Tyler was a volunteer firefighter, followed updates anxiously and hoped for the best.
Finally, around November 11, Tyler improved. He slowly started to move his arms. He remained in the ICU as doctors worked at weaning him off the ventilator.
At this time, Tyler is still in the Ottawa Hospital rehabilitation centre, where he is receiving physiotherapy occupational therapy and is doing exercises to rebuild the strength of his core and arms. The focus is to strengthen Tyler enough so that he is able to return home to his family in Vankleek Hill.
“He has regained some feeling,” Cheyanne says, “But his legs are not moving and they really don’t know the extent of his recovery, although we hope and pray for a full recovery.”
A new routine has evolved for this family. Cheyanne took a leave of absence from her job (she worked remotely from home) and travels to Ottawa every day but returns home to be with their children, aged two-and-a-half years old and now 10 months old. Tyler’s parents also took leaves of absence from their jobs and had been staying at ROTEL to be at Tyler’s bedside.
While she has a sitter for the ten-month-old, their son spends his days at daycare, but as Cheyanne points out, she needed support seven days per week. She says her family, friends and the community have been amazing. When Tyler returned home by ambulance just before Christmas to spend the holidays with his family, a procession of MTO vehicles and the Vankleek Hill fire department met Tyler at the Bruce Barton Fire Station and followed the ambulance to the family’s Barton Street home. Tyler stayed home through Christmas and returned to Ottawa on January 1, 2024.
“We have had so much support from everyone,” Cheyanne says. And the GoFundMe initiative has raised over $35,000.
But what lies ahead is unknown, just as the origin of this illness remains unknown.
“We are getting quotes right now to install a wheelchair lift at the back door and for other necessary adjustments. We will need a portable lift to enable Tyler to move from the bed to the wheelchair. We will need a hospital bed and all the adaptive equipment for him to continue rehabilitation. And an adaptable vehicle. Once he is at home, it will be up to us to pay for private rehabilitation therapy,” she said.
Cheyanne says they are gearing up for whatever the next chapter holds. Cheyanne says the family is still concerned. “We are all still anxious about the future and there are no promises. We are just thankful that he is alive,” she said.
“We know this isn’t going away overnight. And now we need a whole other level of support.”
These days, Cheyanne’s day begins with dropping off her son at daycare and driving to Ottawa to be with Tyler during his physiotherapy and occupational therapy. She leaves Tyler at 3 pm to drive back to Vankleek Hill. Tyler’s mother takes over at 3 pm and stays late at the hospital, before returning home to Vankleek Hill. They are pacing themselves and taking shifts to be with Tyler, says Cheyanne.
She feels that they have made it through the hardest days, but admits that they are emotionally and physically drained. The financial support from the community has made things easier, helping with the costs of travelling back and forth.
Although the couple has been married for three years, theirs is a love story that goes back 17 years to their days in elementary school.
Emerging from this crisis has taught Cheyanne and Tyler and their family about the fragility of life.
“Life is really short and things can change in the blink of an eye,” says Cheyanne.
How you can help
The GoFundMe page is here: https://gofund.me/4cf95500.
If you are not comfortable with donating via the GoFundMe page, there is an e-mail address you can use for donations: [email protected]
or contact by mail to: PO Box 346, Vankleek Hill, Ontario, K0B 1R0or GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/4cf95500.
