Today, Billy Fox and his family are giving thanks for the teen's recovery and the support they received from across their small Brown County community.

Billy came down with the virus known commonly as swine flu the week before Wrightstown's Sept. 25 homecoming, but the 265-pound offensive tackle recovered, played in the homecoming game and attended the dance Sept. 26.

The next day Billy woke up with a 103-degree fever. At first, he thought it was just another bout of the flu, but things worsened and he ended up at Bellin Hospital in Green Bay on Oct. 2.

"It was a bacterial infection that turned into pneumonia," Billy said. "I had a little bit at first, but that turned into the whole lung covered in it. They called it respiratory failure. I was in the (intensive care unit) for 19 days on a respirator."

The Salvation Army Majors Jim and Pat Irvine were with the Foxes through much of Billy's ordeal. They connected with the Fox family through mutual friends and Billy's brother's involvement in Salvation Army youth activities.

"Whatever we needed, they were there for us," said Kathy Fox, Billy's mom. "Without the support of people like Jim and Pat, I don't know how our family would have made it through this."

The Irvines helped shuttle Billy's younger brothers to the hospital and other activities after school and made sure Kathy and her husband, Rob, could spend time at Billy's side. Families from Wrightstown High School and others in the community stepped forward to make meals for the Fox family.

"We tried to keep our life as normal as possible for the other two boys … because we knew they were scared too," Kathy Fox said. "We tried to have the normal pulses of the day — waking up in their own house, getting ready for school, having breakfast at home, school, activities, then they would come to the hospital.

"People were climbing out of the woodwork … bringing a beef roast, barbeque pork, a cake, homemade chocolate chip cookies, three-course meals," she said. "The community support was amazing."

As Billy's pneumonia got more aggressive, so did the doctors at Bellin Hospital. Fluid buildup in his chest, kidney failure, a blood pressure spike and a 105.6- degree temperature contributed to a life-threatening situation. Surgeons cut into Billy's side to remove fluid from his chest and installed chest tubes to drain his chest cavity.

Billy doesn't remember the scary moments. He was sedated and unconscious for 12 days.

"When I woke up, I couldn't talk because I still had the tube in my throat … I didn't know what happened," Billy said. "My mom was there and she started explaining things to me slowly … getting me caught back up with what I missed and what happened to me."

Billy spent 21 days in the hospital. He lost 35 pounds and has several scars: one across the front of his neck from the tracheotomy tube and a zipper-like scar on his left side that runs around to his back and up along his left shoulder blade. The scar on his back is punctuated by two smaller scars where doctors inserted the drainage tubes.

"It's not the flu that gets you, it's the stuff you get after the flu," Billy said.

Billy is back at school and able to attend wrestling practice, albeit at half-speed. He gets winded when he runs a lot or overexerts himself. His two younger brothers, J.R., 16, and Jackson, 15, also wrestle, and Billy, still a heavyweight, expects to be back up to full speed in a few weeks.

He's also plowing through three weeks of missed homework.

Jim Irvine, who joined The Salvation Army Corps in Green Bay in July, humbly eschewed any accolades.