Stephanie R.’s Story

He didn't deserve to die this way.

My husband was a father of four, a grandfather of two, a lover of Jesus, and a computer genius.

Becoming Sick

“On December 30, 2021 he started experiencing dizziness.”

My husband and I had just celebrated our 19th wedding anniversary on December 18, 2021. Four days later he started feeling unwell (fever, chills, cough, and fatigue) and was actually scheduled to fly out for work the next day. He informed his employer and was asked to take a Covid test. He scheduled a test for the next day at the local CVS but in the meantime, I bought an over-the-counter test since it was getting so close to Christmas and we needed to know what we needed to do about family gatherings. His home test was positive on December 23, 2021. We didn't get his results back from CVS until after Christmas, but it was also positive. I tested positive on Christmas day.

While I had a mild case (headache, cold-like symptoms, and fatigue), my husband's symptoms continued to worsen, to the point where he would get up for a few hours and then have to go and lay down for a few hours. On December 30, 2021 he started experiencing dizziness. I checked his oxygen level with an at-home pulse oximeter and found his oxygen level to be in the low 70s. I immediately called 911, and EMS arrived on scene. He was placed on oxygen via nasal cannula and taken to the local hospital.

Remdesivir

Once at the hospital, he was asked multiple times about his vaccination status and even harassed about the fact that he chose not to get it. The admitting doctor told my husband that she would "hunt him down" to see how he was doing and made him feel like he was going to die right then and there. He spent over 12 hours in the ER before being admitted

to the ICU on high levels of oxygen via heated high flow nasal cannula. He was also started on a five-day course of Remdesivir without giving consent or being told the risks associated with it. Just three days after he finished his course of Remdesivir, his breathing had worsened to the point that he was now having to use a BiPAP and had gotten to the point that he was unable to take it off to eat or drink because his oxygen levels would drop too low.

On January 7, 2022 the decision was made (by he and myself) to have him intubated and placed on a ventilator, which is something neither of us ever wanted to happen. Once that took place, everything went downhill from there. He required increasing amounts of oxygen and started showing signs of kidney and liver failure. He soon was started on daily dialysis. Throughout all of this, his heart rate remained high, and his blood pressure remained low. Eventually he was unable to tolerate dialysis, was found to have a urinary tract infection, and became septic.

Nothing We Can Do

“We had already asked about ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, and monoclonal antibodies and were basically told that none of these were options and that ivermectin was basically a horse dewormer.”

On January 15, 2022 the family was called in to discuss his plan of care. We were told that there was basically nothing left that they could do for him. We had already asked about ivermectin, hydroxychloroquine, and monoclonal antibodies and were basically told that none of these were options and that ivermectin was basically a horse dewormer. We elected not to do any "drastic" measures should he go into cardiac arrest because we were told that it would likely happen again and again. My husband ended up passing away that afternoon with myself, his oldest daughter, and his mother in the room, along with the hospitalist and chaplain standing in the room doing nothing.

My husband was a father of four, a grandfather of two, a lover of Jesus, and a computer genius. He didn't deserve to die this way. He was harassed for not being vaccinated and the doctor that told him she would "hunt him down" did come and find him only to harass him again, to the point that he told her that he felt intimidated and asked her to leave. I was allowed to bring him snacks, which were not given to him until hospital staff were called out for it. He had hardly eaten the whole time he had been sick, yet they waited three days before starting him on any supplemental nutrition once he was intubated. I miss my husband so bad!