Funeral and Covid medical bills

I honestly never imagined that my family would be put in a position where we would need to be so vulnerable. Like a lot of people, Covid has impacted our family in a way that will change us forever .

 

Two weeks ago, my dad was happy and healthy. Riding his bike around his neighborhood and sending me his workout badge for the day, telling me how many miles he had just completed.

 

My dad managed to stay healthy during this pandemic. On Friday, Jan 14th, he started with a very mild headache. I took him immediately to our family doctor. We had a plan, which included keeping him out of the hospital. His symptoms ebbed and flowed over the next few days, but he was stable and ok. By Wednesday, he started having neurological symptoms that required an ER visit. He was treated and sent home. The following 3 days, he became progressively worse, and his O2 went down into the 70’s. We called the ambulance right away to get him to the local hospital. My daughter and I stayed with him the entire night in the emergency room until they could find a hospital that would accept his transfer. I would have never imagined that would be the last time I would see him awake and alert. The transferring hospital refused to let us see him. Our only way of communication was phone calls. My dad needed more and more oxygen, thus making the phone calls very difficult/impossible. None of the hospital treatments were working. On day 3, my dad sent a text that they needed to vent him. He wanted me and my mom’s approval. Although I knew that the outcome would potentially be fatal, I couldn’t deny him as he was struggling. I told him to keep fighting and he told me “I’m trying, it's tough”. He was transferred to the ICU and was vented in 30 minutes. He required the max amount of O2 support the ventilator would give him. The prognosis was very grim. We had the nurse put his phone by his bed and had Psalm 91 play on repeat. We prayed our hearts out for 2 days. We FaceTimed him and read scriptures to him. I really believed that he would overcome this and would be healed as Jesus says in the Bible. Unfortunately, I was wrong. We had to decide as a family to remove all life support as he was not improving.

 

Saturday, Jan 29 was the day I lost my hero, my support, my cheerleader, MY DAD. I have never felt this kind of pain. It's a pain that is felt deep within my chest and doesn't go away. Our family needs your help as we did not prepare for this type of tragedy. The hospital/ICU charges and funeral arrangements are costly. Any and all support would be very much appreciated.

 

Thank you so much from the Epplen/Cortese/Mondragon families.