![\"Sabourin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0917-co-gbs01.co_.jpg\")
Natalie Sabourin, seen during the months she was learning how to walk again during her rehabilitation from Guillain-Barr\u00e9 syndrome. Natalie Sabourin \/ Supplied<\/p>\nOn Aug. 26 two years ago, Natalie Sabourin was hit with sudden, cold-like sickness. <\/p>\n
She said a numbness crept into her toes and rose up her legs. Within a day, Sabourin, an avid paddler who\u2019d gone kayaking in Ottawa area with family only a week earlier, struggled to stand upright. <\/p>\n
\u201cMy legs started feeling very wobbly, like a toddler\u2019s legs,\u201d Sabourin said.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when she went to the hospital, where the attending doctor, a neurologist, gave her both good and bad news. <\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty sure I know what you have, and I can help you,\u201d she recalled him saying. \u201cThe bad news is it\u2019s going to get worse before it gets better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Natalie Sabourin, seen during the months she was learning how to walk again during her rehabilitation from Guillain-Barr\u00e9 syndrome. Natalie Sabourin \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
By Aug. 28, 2024, she was in the intensive-care unit (ICU). Two days later, she was intubated after her whole body shut down, leaving her numb, paralyzed and unable to breathe on her own. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was surreal,\u201d said Sabourin, a public servant in Ottawa who grew up in Cornwall. \u201cIt was absolutely surreal.\u201d <\/p>\n
The diagnosis<\/p>\n
This was the start of Sabourin\u2019s journey of recovery from Guillain-Barr\u00e9 syndrome (GBS)<\/a>, a rare, acute inflammatory condition that attacks the body\u2019s nerves. After an arduous process of rehabilitation over many months, she has gradually gained her mobility. <\/p>\n Now, she and her brother, Eric Sabourin, are raising funds and awareness for the condition by launching the GBS Hope in Motion bike ride, where Eric will venture out on a 160-kilometre trek from Ottawa to their hometown in Cornwall on Sept. 26.<\/p>\n GBS is an inflammatory condition of the peripheral nerves, according to Donna Hartlen, executive director of the GBS\/CIDP Foundation of Canada<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cAt some point in time the body gets confused,\u201d Hartlen explained, attacking the outer coating of the body\u2019s nerves. <\/p>\n It is a rare condition, affecting one to two people per 100,000. The loss of sensation begins and the hands or feet and quickly progresses up the body. <\/p>\n \u201cIt can impair breathing. You can be completely paralyzed from head to toe within 48 hours if it\u2019s an aggressive case,\u201d said Hartlen. <\/p>\n It has suspected triggers, appearing after flus, pneumonia, and food poisoning, but there are no predictors for who can get it. While treatments are available, recovery can take months, even years. A full cure is unknown.<\/p>\n After a month in the ICU, staff members had concerns Sabourin might never be able to breathe on her own. At its worst, she couldn\u2019t smile or make facial expressions of any kind, communicating by moving her eyes as family and friends held up a sheet of paper and went through the letters of the alphabet one at a time. She couldn\u2019t even clear her own throat. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was machines and a team of people literally keeping me alive,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The first steps to recovery<\/p>\n To ween her off the respiratory machine, doctors slowly turned it down, forcing her lungs to work harder in the hopes she\u2019d learn to breathe again. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was the hardest thing,\u201d said Sabourin. <\/p>\n Every ounce of her focus was trained on expanding and contracting her lungs \u2014 so much so that she couldn\u2019t have the TV or radio on in her room. <\/p>\n \u201cI needed to concentrate on every breath and get to the next one,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n With only her thoughts to occupy her, Sabourin gave herself three rules to get through the experience: always listen to the experts and do what they say \u2014 even if she didn\u2019t want to; take your time; and, focus on what matters.<\/p>\n Caregiver burnout’s a real thing, and none of us even saw it happening until we were in it<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\tEric Sabourin<\/p>\n With the support of her partner, Chris, brother Eric, and cousin Danielle, along with the support of many in Ottawa and Cornwall, she persevered. In November, a breakthrough came: she could clear her own throat. <\/p>\n She was cleared from the ICU and transferred to a main unit. Then came more months of physiotherapy: staff moving her toes, feet, and legs. When she first moved her finger on her own, Eric said he called the nurses in. <\/p>\n \u201cWe were off to the races now,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n Then came her hand, and the rest of her arm. <\/p>\n \u201cThe first time she was able to bring her hand up to her face, it was just it was it was one it was the best day of our lives. It was just utter pure joy,\u201d said Eric.<\/p>\n As her nerves woke up, they came back raw. <\/p>\n \u201cIt basically goes from not feeling anything to kind of feeling \u2014 a bit of numbness and tingly-ness \u2014 and then pain,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n Over the following months, Sabourin worked through the pain until it settled. Nearly seven months later, on March 19, she left the hospital on her own two feet. <\/p>\n Two years later, Sabourin said she\u2019s still \u201clearning how to adapt my lifestyle to my new realities.\u201d <\/p>\n She said she struggles with her balance. She needs breaks after physical activity. There\u2019s still nerve pain, shooting down her foot or hand. <\/p>\n \u201cYou get used to it as time goes,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Being inspired<\/p>\n The experience of caregiving and advocating for Natalie without outside support has motivated Eric to raise awareness for GBS and the GBS\/CIDP Foundation of Canada<\/a>. <\/p>\n \u201cCaregiver burnout\u2019s a real thing, and none of us even saw it happening until we were in it,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n He\u2019d only heard of the foundation after Natalie\u2019s ordeal in the hospital. Raising awareness about both the condition and the supports available \u201cis going to help a lot of families not have to feel so frustrated by the lack of help or information,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n The foundation has four pillars, according to Hartlen: support, education, research, and advocacy. In addition to funding research, it provides information to professionals, as early detection helps with treating the condition. The foundation facilitates peer support groups for families, and in severe cases work directly with families to help them advocate for patients. <\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s super important, especially in the rare-disease space, to connect patients with a supporting organization,\u201d Hartlen said. \u201cIt\u2019s super important not to be alone.\u201d<\/p>\n Eric Sabourin has been training for his ride since the end of July, motivated by Natalie\u2019s determination as she worked through her rehabilitation. <\/p>\n It could happen to anyone, he said, so he wants to \u201cmake use of the body\u201d he has \u201cand maybe try to push my limits, like I saw Natalie put her limits.\u201d <\/p>\n He said the 160-kilometre ride isn\u2019t \u201canywhere near the limits that she had to go through.\u201d <\/p>\n As of Sept. 15, $6,705 has been raised, smashing their $5,000 goal. <\/p>\n Eric said has no goal for how long the ride will take.<\/p>\n \u201cAs long as I get my wheels get over that finish line, I\u2019ll be happy.\u201d <\/p>\n A homecoming<\/p>\n Natalie Sabourin is thrilled the ride will end back home in Cornwall. Her father, Andrew Sabourin, was the owner of SDG cleaning and had close ties to the community. <\/p>\n \u201cI wanted to continue that tradition,\u201d Natalie said. \u201cA lot of my memories and experiences are linked to the river, being on the water.\u201d <\/p>\n After rowing on an Ottawa dragon boat team for 15 years, she\u2019s had to miss the past three. Her goal is to get back to paddling for 2027. Sabourin said she considers herself lucky for the team of friends and family around her, drawing on their hope and prayers to \u201cjust keep breathing, one breath at a time, push through.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to funds and awareness, Natalie encourages people to donate plasma. A single course of treatment of one type of medication for GBS can require up to 1,000 donors. <\/p>\n To donate and learn more, you can visit gbshopeinmotionride.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n![\"Sabourin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0917-co-gbs03.co_.jpg\")
Natalie Sabourin, right, recovered from Guillain-Barr\u00e9 syndrome with the help of her brother Eric. Natalie Sabourin \/ Supplied<\/p>\n![\"Sabourin](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/0917-co-gbs02.co_.jpg\")
Eric Sabourin has been training since July to ride 160 kilometres from Ottawa to Cornwall on Sept. 26, 2026, to raise funds and awareness for Guillain-Barr\u00e9 syndrome. His sister Natalie has recovered from the disease. Natalie Sabourin \/ Supplied<\/p>\n
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