A former Cambridge business owner diagnosed with rare disease is now fighting for his life.
Eric Southerland, 43, owned the Trade Zone in Cambridge for eight or nine years. But in March 2015, Southerland was forced to close his business after being diagnosed with a rare disease, paraneoplastic syndrome, which is triggered by an altered immune system response to abnormal tissue growth in the body and for which there are no treatment options and no cure.
Southerland, along with his wife, Cheri, and three children, lived in Cambridge on the Rum River before moving to Ogilvie in October 2014.
In January 2015, Eric was letting his dog out when he noticed smoke on the horizon. He thought it was a barn fire and got into his car and drove to find a house on fire. A woman there was yelling that her mom was trapped in the bathroom. Eric broke the window; oxygen tanks were exploding in the house. He found the elderly woman, Corky Peterson, and took her through a broken window. They collapsed to the ground and he realized she wasn’t breathing. He performed CPR. Peterson started breathing, but eventually died a few days later in the hospital.
“Eric was a hero that day. Even though Corky passed away, her family was allowed to have a few extra days with her,” Cheri said.
The fire was the beginning of Eric’s health issues.
“He started falling down two months after the fire. And then he started having memory issues,” Cheri said.
At work, Eric was struggling. He knew he had to close his business when he could not figure out how to give a customer change.
“I miss my customers, my store and my old life. Trade Zone was a place for me to meet the needs of families,” he said.
By December 2015, he started slurring his words. Eric and Cheri were at a loss. Previously, Eric had been diagnosed with anxiety, depression and Tourette syndrome. Eric knew there was something else wrong with his body. The doctors were giving him medication, but it was not helping. After months of frustration, Eric finally was sent to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester in September 2016. The doctors diagnosed him with paraneoplastic syndrome.
Eric feels he had an autoimmune disease for a long time and the fire caused it to go into overdrive.
“We don’t even know when this started. I just know that there was a profound difference in his health after the fire. Whether the stress or the toxins from the fire just quadrupled in his body. The last two years have been extremely hard,” Cheri said.
The last two months, Eric has had bouts with dehydration and falling, and it has become hard for him to swallow.
He is ready to go to hospice to manage his pain. He is spending as much time with his family as possible and wants to leave them with great memories.
Eric reminds people to always pay attention to what your body might be saying to you.
“Monitor what goes in your mind and body and how this affects your body and mind, especially medicine. Stay mentally in the present; keep one foot out of yesterday and one foot out tomorrow. Don’t allow other people’s actions or beliefs or expectations to keep you from staying well,” Eric said.
The family has a GoFundMe page to receive donations to help with medical expenses at https://www.gofundme.com/very-rare-disease-destroying-eric.