When Lori Clark woke up from a 43-day medically induced coma, she realized she could no longer mover her limbs. Doctors placed Clark in a coma to try and treat Legionnaires’ disease she contracted at a hotel in New York state. (Photo by Karl Schneider/News21)

ALBANY, N.Y. – Doctors twice notified Lori Clark’s family that they expected her to die.

Clark, a project manager who lives in upstate New York, was placed in a chemically induced coma for 43 days after she was diagnosed with Legionnaires’ disease in 2011. She initially thought she had the flu and delayed seeing a doctor. The last thing she remembers before waking up from the coma is her son rushing her to hospital.

“I couldn’t feel my limbs, was coughing all the time and had a really high temperature,” she said.

Legionnaires’ disease is a severe form of pneumonia caused by the waterborne bacteria legionella. People may contract Legionnaires’ when they breathe in water mists contaminated with legionella, or when drinking water goes down the wrong pipe and into the lungs. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says people above the age of 50 or those with underlying health conditions are most at risk from the disease.

Clark was 46 years old when she was diagnosed. She also suffers from rheumatoid arthritis and lupus, and she went into septic shock and organ failure after contracting Legionnaires’ disease. Her fingers caved in while she was in the coma because she couldn’t take her arthritis medication, she said.

“Before Legionnaires’? I could walk. I could run. I could ride my bike. I could garden, and I could bend over. Life after legionnaires? Not so much,” said Clark, now 54. “I will never see another country unless they build a bridge. I will never get on a plane after this as I’m more susceptible to pneumonia now. I can no longer type properly as my fingers curled up while I was in the coma… Legionella is a killer, and people need to pay more attention to it.”

Legionnaires’ wasn’t something that ever concerned Clark before her diagnosis. She knew it existed, but she never thought she was at risk. Now, after the disease nearly killed her, she finds herself angered by the fact that thousands of people are affected by this waterborne illness every year.

“I’m reading about it in the news every day. How could I not be mad?” she said. “People in power need to see the light and understand that they are playing with people’s lives. They’re  shirking their responsibility for the public’s health. I invite them to go through what I went through.”

Clark’s lungs now only function at 50 percent capacity. She has to work from home most days, and she can no longer travel by airplane or do the hobbies she once enjoyed.

Doctors diagnosed Lori Clark with Legionnaires’ disease in January 2011. Clark first noticed symptoms when she began coughing after a visit to a hotel in New York state. Doctors induced Clark into a chemical coma for 43 days to try and treat the disease. (Photo by Karl Schneider/News21)

“Mentally, it gets easier. Physically, it doesn’t,” she said. “Anxiety levels subside after a while, but in the beginning, I felt like I was walking through a minefield every time I went out in public. I was like a ticking timebomb. If I couldn’t tie my shoe. I would fly off the handle.”

Potable water is one of the most common sources of legionella, according to the Environmental Protection Agency. But health experts argue that officials tend to ignore drinking water supplies when it comes to identifying sources of legionella contamination.

Brad Considine, director of strategic planning with the Alliance to Prevent Legionnaires’ Disease, said officials need to start “facing the facts.”

“When outbreaks happen, health departments look to cooling towers and air-conditioning systems, but research shows potable water is the often the main source,” Considine said.

“By ignoring domestic water systems, they are putting people’s health at risk. We were given bodies that fend off all these threats that we live with, but there’s some things we shouldn’t have to fight.”

Clark sued the hotel where she contracted Legionnaires’ for negligence.

She was there for a three-day work event, and she used the spa and pool facilities, the restrooms and drank the water. A week later, she was fighting for her life. It turned out the hotel never informed guests that elevated levels of legionella had been found in the water system a month earlier, she said.

Health inspectors said it was possible she contracted it from the spa and pool, but like in most Legionnaires’ cases, it is difficult to identify the exact source.

Her attorney, Michael Conway, of Harris, Conway & Donovan, said most Legionnaires’ cases settle as people don’t want it known publicly that their water systems are contaminated.

“Because it’s often difficult to identify the source of contamination, people tend not to take legal action as they believe they’re fighting a losing battle,” he said.

The CDC reports that about one in 10 people die from the lung condition, and Clark considers herself lucky to be on the right side of that statistic. The CDC also says that legionella has been responsible for 66 percent of waterborne disease outbreaks associated with drinking water in the U.S., while the number of cases has risen since 2000.

For Clark, that’s the most frustrating part. In her opinion, officials aren’t dealing with the problem.

“It’s entirely preventable. That’s one of the saddest things,” she said. “None of this has to happen. I feel for the families and the individuals who have to go through this. I’m lucky to be alive.”

To see the full News21 report on “Troubled Water,” go to troubledwater.news21.com on Aug. 14.

The post Legionnaires’ survivor: ‘I’m lucky to be alive’ appeared first on Troubled Water.

Water treatment experts say chlorine is used to treat contaminated water because it’s the most inexpensive method – not because it’s the most effective.

But some residents in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, say their health is paying a high price.

From raw red rashes to scalp psoriasis, one local resident said it’s as if he’s “rotting away.”

While officials use chlorine to keep parasites and brain-eating amoeba out of their water, it’s proven to be somewhat of a double-edged sword.

This episode of Unfiltered features two women who believe their skin problems are linked to chlorinated water.

For more stories like this, check out our major multimedia project Troubled Water, which goes live on Aug. 14.

Jennifer Kieff said she feels that her skin condition makes her look “like an alligator.” She continues to seek advice from dermatologists. (Photo by Jasmine Spearing-Bowen/News21)

The post Episode 2: Chlorine causing health concerns appeared first on Troubled Water.

Lester Evans, 83, of St. Bernard Parish, said the drinking water in his Louisiana community has been “bad” for a long time. (Photo by Jasmine Spearing-Bowen/News21)

SAINT BERNARD PARISH, La. – Lester Evans prefers to drink bottled water. If he runs out, he’ll drink from the tap, but only when he needs to take his medication.

“It’s like pouring a cup of bleach down the hatchet,” he said. “If I don’t take the medication, it’s bad for me. If I drink the water, it’s bad for me. What you gonna do?”

The 83-year-old has lived in St. Bernard Parish, Louisiana, for 45 years. He reminisced about the days of “good, old-fashioned” cistern water. “That might not have been healthy either, but at least it tasted nice.”

Drinking water sources have changed a lot since Lester was a boy. The St. Bernard community once relied on the huge, rainwater harvesting cistern tanks. Now, the majority drink from bottles as they don’t trust the water flowing from the tap.

More than 44,000 people live in St. Bernard, about 5 miles from downtown New Orleans. Residents complain that they can’t drink their water because of the “overpowering” taste of chlorine.

Officials detected Naegleria fowleri, otherwise known as “brain-eating amoeba,” in the water in September 2013. They have found brain-eating amoeba in the water a number of times since. A spokeswoman with the Louisiana Department of Health said it’s safe to drink, just as long as it doesn’t “go up your nose.”

Workers treat the water with chlorine to kill the species. While locals don’t want the amoeba, they are now paying for water they won’t drink – and which can irritate their skin.

Lester Evans’ wife, Frances, refuses to drink any water, whether it comes from a bottle or tap.

Louisiana residents Lester and Frances Evans stock their fridge with flavored water and juice because they don’t like the taste of their water. (Photo by Jasmine Spearing-Bowen/News21)

“She don’t trust none of it, or like the taste of it,” he said. They stock their fridge with bottles of water, some which are filled with grape juice. “I drink the bottled water, then fill it up with what she likes to drink … so it’s easier to carry around.”

Just over a year ago, doctors diagnosed Frances Evans with progressive supranuclear palsy, a brain disorder. She can no longer speak and can barely walk. They installed railings in the hallway to help her move around safely.

“Ah, we had a great life together. That’s the love of my life right there,” Lester Evans said. The couple are known as “Captain Swampy and Sweet Lips” and have been married for 65 years. “We used to fish for a living, until (Hurricane) Katrina washed the boat away.”

As someone who spent his life on the water, he believes he knows a lot about it. “The water in St. Bernard is supplied from the Mississippi River, and people say the water here got bad after Katrina, but I’m telling you, it was bad long before then.”

He said the chlorine in the water sometimes irritates his wife’s skin after he bathes her. “You can’t stay in the shower or bath too long or you’ll get a red, raw rash. I suppose it can’t be good for you.”

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers chlorine levels up to 4 milligrams per liter safe in drinking water. Anything above that can lead to dry, flaky skin – particularly if residents already have eczema or other skin conditions. The Water and Sewer Division of the St. Bernard Parish Government say the chlorine levels are within CDC guidelines, but they did not confirm how much they add to the water system.

Lester and Frances Evans, of St. Bernard Parish, don’t like to drink water from the tap. Officials use chlorine in the water to kill Naegleria fowleri, otherwise known as “brain-eating amoeba.” (Photo by Jasmine Spearing-Bowen/News21)

Locals refer to Naegleria fowleri as “the amoeba,” and they’re concerned about why it keeps reappearing in Louisiana water systems, despite the fact that workers add chlorine to the water.

Lester Evans, who has a number of grandchildren, spoke about the 4-year-old boy who died in St. Bernard in 2013, when tap water containing brain-eating amoeba went up his nose.

“You have to be concerned for the kids more, and my daughter doesn’t let them drink the water,” he said. “Me and my wife, we’ve lived a good life, ain’t no point being concerned for ourselves no more.”

The post Louisiana residents must deal with chlorinated water to combat brain-eating amoeba appeared first on Troubled Water.