Young Selma woman recovers from rare disease that kept her in Kaiser ICU for weeks

SELMA, Calif. (KFSN) -- A young Selma woman is back at home after battling a rare disease that attacks the nervous system.

Teah Bautista spent more than two weeks at Kaiser Permanente in Fresno.

More than six months later -- Bautista still gets emotional, as she remembers laying in a hospital bed, wondering if this was her time to go.

"I was just like 'Okay, I lived a happy life, you know, I did what I did. This is all I can do. I was like...this is the end of it," she recalled. "If I go home with the Lord, then that's fine."

The 25-year-old was healthy and active, despite a lupus diagnosis in high school.

She couldn't believe she was in Kaiser's Intensive Care Unit -- hooked up to several tubes and wires, barely able to move or breathe.

Teah's parents were also terrified.

"To just see it all come to a stop -- her being so independent and her needing our help more than usual, it was scary," said Bautista's mother, Sandra.

Bautista was admitted to Kaiser in April - following two previous visits to the emergency room, when doctors diagnosed her with a gastrointestinal infection.

However, she wasn't getting better and felt weaker.

"She could barely move her legs, her arms, we did a lot of extensive diagnostic testing for her," explained Dr. Kevin Blackney.

Bautista was later diagnosed with a MOGAD, which stands for Myelin Oligodendrocyte Glycoprotein Antibody Associated Disease.

According to doctors, it's rare and anyone can be diagnosed with the condition.

"What this disease starts to look like is you start to see a breakdown of the lining of the nerves throughout our central nervous system, all the way up into the brain, into the eyes and down into the spinal cord," Dr. Blackney said.

Bautista was later discharged and she began treatment - which includes intensive rehabilitation at San Joaquin Valley Rehabilitation Hospital.

"It's going amazing," she said. "They actually, if you go on to their website, they actually did a success story on me!"

Bautista went from a wheelchair to a walker, and she now will use a cane occasionally. Doctors didn't expect her to walk so soon. Although, they aren't surprised - describing their patient as a fighter.

"We supported her body through this, but you know, it was her fight that got her through it," said Dr. Blackney.

When you ask Teah, she said that fight in her was only possible through faith, her family and the care she got at Kaiser.

"Thank you for doing your guys', just not doing your job, but connecting on another level, a personal level," she said. "Not a lot of people get that."

As she continues to recover, Bautista and her family can only smile -- knowing God wasn't ready to take her from the world.

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