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ELKHART – Last month, a popular Elkhart principal was one of those who got fungal meningitis after receiving tainted shots for back problems.
Josh Nice counts himself very lucky for catching the problem early and says his family and church helped get him through the ordeal.
There’s not a day goes by that Nice, the principal at Mary Daly Elementary School, doesn’t count his blessings about life, his family and his job.
He received injections from the OSMC Outpatient center for back problems.
In early October, he received a call from OSMC.
“I had been experiencing the back pain like everybody else, had shots at OSMC like several hundred others did, and they had wonderful records and gave me a call and told me what symptoms to be looking for,” said Nice.
A couple days later, even though he developed a splitting headache, Nice went to church with his wife, but after services, it got so bad, they rushed him to the ER at Elkhart General Hospital.
“By the time I was in there, doctors had kind of a set procedure, evaluating the blood, doing a spinal tap and then proceeding with the particular antibiotics and anti-fungals from there,” Nice described.
He spent the next 11 days in the hospital alongside others with fungal meningitis. In his absence, Nice said the staff at Mary Daly did a wonderful job of keeping the school going.
He says it was one of the most challenging times in his life with the long hospital stay, undergoing several medical procedures, but he says support from a number of different levels helped him get through it.
“My wife was up with me almost all the time, had great family support to take care of the kids, the church family was out there helping us out,” noted Nice.
He says during his hospital stay, he turned to prayer and reflection daily.
“I prayed a lot and was so grateful for those around me.”
Nice has been principal at Mary Daly for nearly two years.