Dad-of-three put on life support just weeks after catching a 'bad cold' READ MORE: Mom thought she had a cold - but doctors found stage 4 cancer By Maiya Focht For Dailymail.Com Published: 16:50 BST, 27 May 2024 | Updated: 17:18 BST, 27 May 2024 e-mail View comments When most of us get a cold, we assume that we'll be on the mend in a few days. That's what Jared Maynard, a 33 year-old powerlifter, physiotherapist and dad-of-three from Ontario, Canada , believed, when he developed a sniffle in January last year.
But he was wrong. Mr Maynard, his wife and three daughters all came down with what seemed like mild a cold. His daughters and wife got better within a week.
Mr Maynard, however, seemed to be getting worse. Eventually, his skin began turning yellow and he became delirious. Subsequent hospital tests revealed he wasn't suffering a cold, but something far more sinister.
Mr Maynard developed a rare condition called hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis in response to what seemed like a mild cold. He lost 43 pounds while in the hospital and was on life support for five weeks. Mr Maynard, pictured here before his illness, alongside his wife Ashley, 32 and their three daughters, Elizabeth, 6, Mary-Claire, 6, and Cecilia, 3.
His 'cold' was in fact a virus that had triggered a rare immune system disease that had caused his liver and kidneys to stop functioning. Doctors discovered he had developed life-threatening hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis (HLH) which hijacks the body's immu.