A Columbus firefighter is fighting to breathe and fighting to get better. It may all be due to goose droppings.
Firefighter Chris Bova was doing work at a house mid-February where there’s a retention pond out back with a lot of goose droppings.
His wife Kelly said he was clearing out flower beds, pulling out the nests and turning over the mulch.
After several trips to urgent care, Chris finally noticed the sign he wasn’t getting enough oxygen and took himself to the hospital.
“He was in pain, he was having trouble breathing, high fevers, couldn’t break them,” said his wife Kelly. “They said if he would have stayed at home that he would have crashed at home and we would have found him that evening.”
Right after being admitted, Chris thought he’d reached the end.
“[He said] ‘I’m going to die right now and I don’t think I’m going to make it and I apologize,’” said Kelly. “For the next 15 days, he was intubated.”
Test after test narrowed it to one possibility: histoplasmosis.
“It comes from fungus organisms that live in the soil,” said Dr. Mark Herbert, an infectious disease specialist at Mt. Carmel West Hospital.
Many people aren’t affected but if someone’s immune system is compromised, a serious infection can develop. Histoplasma is common in Central Ohio. And something else very common can make it worse, geese.
“The presence of bird droppings in the soil makes the histoplasmosis grow better in the soil,” said Dr. Herbert.
“There’s a lot of geese that have their nests around the fire house,” said Kelly.
Chris believes the fungus in the soil was kicked up and he breathed it in. He didn’t know about histoplasmosis. His family wants others to be aware.
“We need signs, we need public awareness,” said Kelly. “He’s worked 23 years, he’s been a firefighter, he’s protected people, to think he could pass away from geese droppings.”
Chris will be put on a year-long regimen to try to get rid of the histoplasmosis. His family says it’s going to be a long road.
Columbus Fire said the city is working to take care of the goose issue.
