Ont. powerlifter battles back after catching mild cold that turned into rare and deadly disease

A powerlifter currently living in Wallenstein, Ont., west of Elmira, caught a mild cold last year that quickly turned into a deadly disease.

Jared Maynard, 33, is a physical therapist and working out is a part of his identity.

“It’s something that I do basically every day in some way, shape or form,” Maynard explained.

So you can imagine the frustration when a common cold kept him out of his home gym longer than he could have ever imagined.

“I started to feel a bit under the weather, but so did my wife and my kids. It was the season everyone was getting sick,” he said.

As his family started to recover, Maynard only got worse. His cold symptoms evolved into insomnia, swollen lymph nodes and his skin even turned yellow as his organs began to fail.

Maynard was eventually admitted into Kitchener’s Grand River Hospital, after originally being misdiagnosed with another illness.

“Then in six days or so I was on life support in the ICU, and in that time we landed on a diagnosis of HLH,” he said.

HLH stands for hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis– a rare disease that can be triggered by certain infections and causes white blood cells to attack other blood cells. In turn, the person’s organs grow larger.

The disease sparked a war within his body and Maynard quickly became unrecognizable.

Doctors began preparing his family for the end.

“One of the nurses pulled my parents aside after and said there’s nothing else we can do here,” he recalled.

Jared Maynard a couple weeks before he went home from the hospital in April 2023 (left) and in February 2023 in the ICU. (Submitted)

Then, out of nowhere, Maynard’s body fought back.

He began making improvements and, despite losing over 40 pounds, he woke up in the ICU about five weeks later.

“I wake up and I feel like I’m in someone else’s body,” he explained. “They nicknamed me ‘Miracle Man,’ the doctors and nurses in the ICU, because by all accounts that shouldn’t have happened.”

Jared Maynard's first visit with his kids in March 2023. (Submitted)

However, waking up was just the beginning. Maynard then had to re-learn how to stand, walk, talk and eat again.

In no time, he was released from the hospital and back at home making significant improvements.

He relied on his muscle memory every step of the way.

Then, on May 25, Maynard competed in his first powerlifting competition since his diagnosis last year.

He’s now back supporting his clients on their health journeys.

Maynard said the muscles he built up prior to the near-fatal diagnosis ended up being the life insurance policy he needed to win the fight of his life.