Life was going great for Danielle and Tony Gibson. The happy couple from Tennessee had two sets of twin girls, ages 11 and 2.
But one day, the 33-year-old husband and father came home from his brand-new job and complained to Danielle about a pounding headache.
His condition rapidly worsened over the next few days. Tony's sense of direction suddenly vanished, to the point he could no longer navigate their household. He stopped eating and speaking — and started hallucinating.
Though Tony saw multiple types of doctors who ran countless tests, his diagnosis was initially a complete and utter mystery. Was it some kind of mental trauma? Early onset dementia?
Then, about one month into his hospitalization, doctors diagnosed Tony with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, or CJD. They said it was terminal and he had only months to live.
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CJD is an aggressive disease for which there is no cure. The chances of getting it are extremely low. "The standard form can be genetic or sporadic and the mad cow variant can be acquired through ingestion of beef products that have been contaminated," news station WJHL reports.
Danielle still has no idea how her husband contracted CJD.
