Doctors Thought He Had COVID, Then the 27-Year-Old Received a Terrifying Diagnosis: ‘They Ignored These Symptoms for Three Years’

For years, Mikey Stone treated the strange feeling in his left foot as little more than an irritation caused by long hours at work. The 27-year-old was working as a waiter in Colorado when the first symptom appeared, and he initially saw no reason to worry.

“ I was working as a waiter and noticed that my left foot felt kind of strange. That is the only way I can describe it. At first, the feeling was just strange,” Stone said. Over time, the sensation became numbness and spread into his left calf. Muscle twitching then appeared in the affected areas and gradually moved through his body.

The symptoms eventually changed the way he walked. Stone said his legs became “heavy, weak and very tired,” comparing the sensation to “walking through the shallow end of a swimming pool.” He also recalled losing movement in his foot and frequently tripping at work. Doctors told him those problems were probably signs that he was working too hard.

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I was working as a waiter and noticed that my left foot felt kind of strange. That is the only way I can describe it. At first, the feeling was just strange.

His search for an explanation lasted about three years. Stone lost significant weight and described his altered walk as “pirate-like, on a wooden leg.” After feeling feverish, dizzy and experiencing a stabbing pain in his abdomen during a friend’s birthday celebration, he went to an emergency department, where doctors suspected coronavirus.

The answer finally came at a geneticist’s office in Phoenix, Arizona. Tests revealed an extremely rare mutation in the SLC1A2 gene. About 400 people worldwide are believed to have the mutation, and it causes health problems in only a small number of them. One of those problems is ALS, a progressive neurodegenerative disease. Stone has since spoken openly about his difficult experience on social media, where more than 450,000 people follow him on TikTok.

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It also began spreading through my body over the next few years. At first I did not think much about it, but eventually it reached the point where I began having serious problems walking.