Jason Vanslette was expected to die when the doctors took him off life support. His parents said their goodbyes to their 17-year-old son who was infected with West Nile virus. Yet somehow, Vanslette survived.

Now, Vanslette, a partner at Kelley Kronenberg who focuses his practice primarily on mortgage foreclosure litigation, owes his success in the courtroom to his time as a public defender. But, his near-death experience would not be the last time he had to face the virus that brought him to the brink of death.

In 2002, Vanslette was walking in the halls of Titusville High School soon after the school year began when he had a sharp pain in his forehead.

"I knew it was a different kind of headache," Vanslette said.

In the hallway, a faculty member had him call his parents in his classroom. Moments later, Vanslette was vomiting all over the floor.

At the hospital, where he was diagnosed with meningitis, the teenager kept passing out from the severity of his headaches. Upon release two weeks later, he collapsed within hours and was promptly taken to a different hospital. There, the meningitis turned into encephalitis of the brain.

Vanslette's brain and organs shutdown from the severe pressure. He had to be shocked back to life several times. Doctors placed him into an induced coma.

Finally, he was rushed to a third hospital in Orlando. There, his entire family was in pain, supporting him unconditionally. Doctors said Vanslette had just 24 hours to live. At his bedside, his parents said their goodbyes to their son.

'Go from the pews right up to the table'

After 14 days in a coma, Vanslette started showing signs of life. His doctors took him out of the induced coma.

"I slowly opened my eyes," Vanslette said. "Inside I felt normal. My mental thoughts were normal."

But his battle would continue. Vanslette had a host of problems, including with his vision, a completely lack of motor movement and the inability to communicate.

"I was trapped in my own body," Vanslette said. "The one thing that worked was my tear ducts. My parents knew that inside, I was clearly frustrated. You hear doctors say, 'he will never be the same.' "

Vanslette had to relearn many of the basic skills that many people take for granted and his doctors were doubtful that was possible. Over the next six to eight weeks, he was able to move in a walker. In three to four months, his speech returned.

Once Vanslette was back on his feet, his next challenge was his academics. Fortunately, teachers met at his parents' home to teach the determined teenager. To catch up with his peers, Vanslette went to summer school and he ultimately graduated on time in the top 1% of his class.

Soon after, Vanslette started a new chapter of his life at Florida State University for his undergrad education. Yet, he was still recovering emotionally from the previous chapter. He struggled with his purpose in life and why he survived while so many others with his condition did not.

"I had this existential crisis going into college," Vanslette said. "I had no purpose in life. I shouldn't be here."

Vanslette majored in religion and international affairs. After graduating in 2007 from FSU in the top of his class, he knew his intellectual pursuit of religion was not going to translate into a career as a minister of a church. Instead, he decided to pursue law school at Nova Southeastern University.

As fate would have it, after graduating in 2011, the job market was poor and Vanslette took a job at the public defender's office in Orlando. It turned out to be one of the best decisions he ever made.

"As a public defender, I certainly appreciated the notion of second chances and trying to help those that sometimes couldn't help themselves," Vanslette said. "You don't realize when you start the job, you become just as much a social worker as an attorney."

Vanslette was in the courtroom for a majority of the day in the over two years he worked as a public defender. The experience helped him improve on his courtroom skills while many of his classmates had little courtroom time at that point in their law careers.

"I owe everything to the success, even in private practice, to those years I was a public defender," Vanslette said. "They throw you into it literally. As soon as the bar results came out, they expect you to go from the pews right up to the table."

On his first day he had violation of probation cases, without knowing what the term meant. His caseload that day was around 150 people. While Vanslette says there is not much a public defender can do in that moment to successfully bring a favorable outcome to his clients, he still felt like he was "letting them all down."

Ultimately, the judge, state attorney and Vanslette worked together. That on-the-job training was something the major trauma survivor found to be invaluable.

When Vanslette goes before his clients, he utilizes the skills he acquired as a public defender. Building on them over his career, he now gives mock trial and deposition training, how to withstand certain objections, questions and what to expect from opposing counsel.

New hires for his largest client also get those tips in a video to help them become stronger lawyers in the courtrooms. Vanslette crafts the video to take into account the most challenging aspects he encountered in the beginning of his career to more effectively teach them.

But West Nile fought back. Two years ago, Vanslette was reminded of how fragile life can be. He had an overall "biological feeling that something is wrong."

The virus reemerged, but this time, he recognized he signs of the virus and alerted his doctor to his previous medical history with meningitis.

Vanslette was out of work for four months but he recovered. He said the overall experience has changed his life for the better as he wants to continue to prove his doctors wrong — the ones who said he wouldn't be able to succeed, much less live a normal life.

"I don't like talking about it because there is some misconceptions with illnesses and whether or not they can affect the way that you practice," Vanslette said. "But if anything, in spite of that, I feel more motivated to excel."

Jason Vanslette

Born: 1984, Titusville

Spouse: Ashley Vanslette

Children: Kyleigh, Connor

Education: Nova Southeastern University Shepard Broad College of Law, J.D., 2011; Florida State University, B.A., 2007

Experience: Partner, Kelley Kronenberg, 2015-present; Associate, Tripp Scott, 2012-2014; Assistant Public Defender, Public Defender's Office, Ninth Judicial Circuit, 2011-2012