WESTMINSTER : Encephalitis Victim Is Relearning It All

There was a time when Debra Kezer would stay up all night reading romance novels, unable to tear herself away until the last page.

These days, the Westminster resident must limit her reading to books by Dr. Seuss and other children’s authors. At 30, she is learning to read all over again.

In 1984, Kezer was bitten by a mosquito and contracted encephalitis, which left her in a coma for 10 days. The illness caused her brain to swell, and she suffered stroke-like damage that left her unable to care for herself.

Kezer was one of four Orange County residents to be infected by the mosquito-carried virus. Its effects can be similar to an attack of the flu, and some cases go unreported because of the flu-like symptoms. In more serious cases, there is a possibility of permanent brain damage or death.

“I got sick, but I thought it was a cold or the flu,” Kezer said. “Next thing I knew, it was a month later and I was in the hospital. I didn’t recognize my husband or my son. I was like a baby. They had to teach me how to eat, walk and go to the bathroom.”

After months of therapy, Kezer regained her physical abilities but was still unable to speak or read. For an avid reader and self-described nonstop talker, it was quite a blow.

During the first year of her recovery, Kezer also suffered through a divorce from her husband, Donald, but the two remain friends, and she kept custody of their son, Donny.

Through it all, Kezer said, she was determined to return to normal, something that didn’t surprise her mother, Beverly Gulley.

“She has such a fighting spirit and always has. That’s what has gotten her through all of this,” Gulley said. Through speech therapy at Cal State Long Beach, Kezer has learned to talk almost as well as she did before her illness.

“Thank God, I can still talk a lot. If I didn’t have such a strong desire to talk, I don’t know if I would have come this far,” she said.

Learning to read again has come more slowly. For the past two years, she has been tutored through the Adult Literacy Program at Huntington Beach Central Library by 71-year-old Jean Smith, a volunteer.

“When Debra came to us, she couldn’t read anything but the letters in the alphabet. Right now, she’s reading at about a third-grade level. I have never seen a young person so determined. She was so determined to learn how to read before her little boy did,” Smith said.

As it turned out, Kezer and her son, Donny, 7, are learning how to read together. They often spend the afternoon on the couch in their Westminster apartment, reading books donated by Donny’s school.

“When we sit down to read together, a lot of times there will be a word that I can’t say, and Donny will say it for me. He’ll just laugh and say, ‘Say it this way, Mom.’ Between the two of us, we get through the books,” she added.

Kezer said her experience has changed her outlook on life.

“When it first happened, all I could think about was ‘why me?’ But when I went into therapy, I met a lot of people who were a lot worse off. People who didn’t have legs and arms. I just thank God I have what I have and have the chance to get where I once was,” she said.

Kezer said she is thinking about becoming a nurse and helping stroke victims and others who have to experience what she went through.

“I just want to tell them that if I got through it, they can, too,” she said.