Tick-borne illness leaves man paralyzed; diagnosis comes after weeks of testing

In the quiet aftermath of a nearly forgotten tick bite, a man found himself unable to speak or move — his body overtaken by an infection that had traveled through his nervous system undetected for weeks. The path from that small, overlooked moment in the outdoors to a hospital bed and a confirmed diagnosis was long and uncertain, a reminder that the smallest encounters with the natural world can carry consequences far beyond what we imagine at the time. Tick-borne illness, treatable once named, can be devastating in the silence before it is understood.