“I’m not joking when I say your life can change in the blink of an eye, because that was what happened to us,” his grieving daughter Amellia Pawulski, 18, told The New York Post.
Who would think a mosquito would end up in a 5 year disability? Richard Pawulski, 49, was disabled for 5 years due to Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE). The mosquito-borne illness is a rare but “severe” disease that targets the brain, causing rapid physical deterioration and lifelong disabilities — if it doesn’t kill you first.
Richard suddenly fell sick after doing yardwork in the family’s lush, wooded Colchester backyard in August 2019. Just one day after finding a new mosquito bite, Richard complained of intense headaches and began vomiting yellow bile. Ended up with swelling in his brain and ended up in a coma for 2 months.
Richard spent the last five years bouncing between hospitals and nursing homes as he suffered through a traumatic brain injury, liver and kidney complications, seizures and other strenuous illnesses, as well as routine bouts of pneumonia.
His mental state was sorely affected — some days, Richard wasn’t aware of what year it was or where he was. Fortunately, he was lucid enough in the days before his death to tell his wife and daughter that he loved them.
This is a tragic story. You never see a disability coming. That is why it is important to have disability insurance.
