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Guillain barre syndrome gives msgr. tom flach new perspective

Story and photos by LIZ QUIRIN
Messenger editor

He smiled from his seat in the sanctuary as the entrance procession approached from the back of the church. He was back in his parish for the 5 p.m. liturgy Saturday, but he was not “better than ever” — far from it in his struggle to regain the use of his limbs.

Msgr. Tom Flach celebrated the liturgy at SS. Peter and Paul Church in Waterloo from his seat in a motorized wheelchair between Father Don Blaes and Deacon Doug Boyer.

On the long road to recovery from Guillain Barré Syndrome (GBS), he returned to the parish Christmas Eve for the first time since Nov. 4 when he was struck with the syndrome. Jan. 19 was his second homecoming, and he expects there will be many more before he can return to full-time ministry.

GBS attacks the nervous system with accompanying paralysis. It is treatable if detected early, and with medication and therapy the majority of patients recover. Father George Mauck of St. Mary Parish in Carlyle was diagnosed with GBS a number of years ago and returned to parish ministry. Others in the diocese have also been diagnosed and recovered from GBS.

After four days in intensive care units at Missouri Baptist and Barnes hospitals, Msgr. Flach now receives treatment at the Rehabilitation Institute of St. Louis near Barnes Hospital. He expects to stay there until the of January when his case will be reviewed to see if he should be moved to another facility where he would continue to receive therapy.
Grateful to be back at SS. Peter and Paul, Msgr. Flach talked briefly about his progress and some of the people he has met at the rehabilitation hospital.

One young man, a paraplegic at 17 after an injury, has been an example to Msgr. Flach. “He has given me courage,” he said.

While he receives therapy during the week as a patient, Msgr. Flach celebrates the Eucharist every Sunday morning at the hospital with patients, staff and others who form a faith community for the liturgy.

It gives not only those attending a sense of community and strength but Msgr. Flach as well.

On his first visit back to the parish Dec. 24, Msgr. Flach said he was concerned about keeping his composure and not frightening the children of the parish with the wheelchair. “I tried to make a joke of it,” he said.

“I preached that as Christ came into the messiness of a Bethlehem stable, Christ still comes to us in the messiness of our lives wherever we are: in a wheelchair, with the loss of a spouse, in the violence of our lives,” he said.

His homecoming in December was “a joy, to look out the windows to see the bluffs, the river, the town, the church. It was very special, but the reality was that I wasn’t going to stay,” he said.

Being totally incapacitated and dependent upon others for everything has changed Msgr. Flach’s perspective in a number of ways — sometimes positively and other times not.

“I see in others and myself not disabilities but abilities,” he said. He tries to stay positive, interacting with other patients and working diligently on his therapy with the hospital staff.

He told parishioners Jan. 19 that he stood for four minutes with braces on his legs between parallel bars and was clearly proud of the accomplishment. He lauded the staff at the hospital for their caring, their knowledge, their professionalism and their determination to help him walk again.

However, not all days can be positive, and Msgr. Flach remembers days when he experiences “frustration and sadness that I’m confined to such a limited life and environment (right now). The paralysis is extensive, and it’s going to be months and months” before he walks on his own.

Msgr. Flach also knows the fears faced by people with disabilities like his. At night, when he is put to bed, the call button becomes his lifeline to the world outside his room. If he needs help during the night, he presses the button. If he drops the call button, he loses that contact.

At one point, he said he was “afraid of swallowing, afraid I would die.” While that fear has abated, he lost 40 pounds in the process.

In the “first days of the onset of the syndrome, I couldn’t pray,” he said. “I knew God was present to me in the faces of those who attended to me,” he said in his Jan. 19 homily.

Thinking about the fears, he grimaces but at once brightens when he describes the way people have responded to this crisis with him. “I’m so grateful for all of the prayers,” he said, “from the parish, my family, friends, people in the diocese and my brother priests.”

At the parish level, “we have dynamic lay ecclesial ministers there and dynamic lay leadership. Deacon Doug Boyer was named temporary parish administrator, and sacristan, Donna Kocher, said Msgr. Flach had prepared parish leaders to take care of the parish in his absence, and now they are doing just that. “He gave us good training,” she said, and with everyone’s help the parish has moved forward.

Parishioner Tony Morris said a capital campaign was in the works to raise money to build a new school, sorely needed with three mobile classrooms at the present location. “That will go forward,” he said.
Kocher said everyone is concerned about Msgr. Flach, and by the numbers of people who stopped to greet him after the liturgy, she is correct.

“We’ll do whatever we have to do to get him back,” she said.
Kocher said Msgr. Flach has changed — something he noticed as well. “He knows he can’t do everything,” she said. “He has to let go and let God.”

Msgr. Flach said his ministry would change, especially his visits to those who are hospitalized or homebound. “I will listen more carefully now,” he said.

Speaking to his parishioners Jan. 19 about the liturgical season called Ordinary Time, he said he was living in extraordinary time right now in the wheelchair. Looking out at the people, he said: “You make Christ present to one another and to me” in these days of ordinary time.