NATCHEZ — A cold chill followed by dizziness and lightheadedness changed Cade Wells’ perspective on life in a matter of seconds in April.

After a spring workout, the Trinity Episcopal Day School rising junior couldn’t feel his feet and couldn’t move any of his limbs. The frightening situation revealed to Wells he was suffering from Guillain-Barre syndrome, a rare disorder in which the body’s immune system attacks the nerves. Wells was treated at Rapides Regional Medical Center in Alexandria and was released 10 days later. Months later, as he prepares for his junior season with his Trinity Saint teammates, Wells has a new appreciation for competition.

“Anything can be taken from you at any given time,” Wells said. “I went from walking around fine to being paralyzed and helpless in less than 24 hours. I’m not going to take anything else for granted because I know what it feels like to be helpless. It’s not fun.”

Watching his player go from leading the team in tackles to lying in a hospital bed was a tough pill for Trinity head coach Zach Rogel to swallow.

“I consider all of my players to be part of my family,” Rogel said. “Cade was one of the pillars when I got here that stuck with it and believed in me, one of the several, so I lost a lot of sleep during that period. All you can do is pray about it and support him.”

And that’s exactly what Trinity did. By receiving letters and texts, Wells felt an outpouring from the Saints’ family.

“I had all of my Trinity family praying for me every night,” Wells said. “It pushed me to get better as fast as I could.”

The road to recovery has been a long road for Wells, and he’s not finished traveling down that road just yet.

“It’s a big mental thing, coming from physical therapy and overcoming that as fast I could to get back to school and get back to football,” Wells said.

Wells acknowledged that he still isn’t at 100 percent, but he’s working hard to ensure he’ll be in shape for the season. One of the measures Wells has taken in doing so is by working out with an elevated training mask.

“The first time (using it) was definitely a shocker,” Wells said. “It took a lot more air flow coming in and pushing out, so it made me take deeper breaths and made me be better than I was the day before.”

Rogel said it didn’t feel right working out without Wells present, as his desire to perform and compete was always made visible.

“Cade likes this stuff,” Rogel said. “He looks forward to practice and looks forward to being around his teammate.”

As the season inches closer, and workouts further intensify, you better believe Wells will prepare to play every down like it’s his last in 2015.

“I know now that there are people in the world that have had the same disease that I had, and they’re still not walking,” Wells said. “I have a new appreciation now.”