On Saturday, August 7th our dad/husband Dave fell ill while at home. 911 was called and ultimately he went into cardiac arrest. EMT’s began CPR and rushed him to the hospital where he was given a temporary pacemaker, hooked up to a ventilator, put on all sorts of medication and placed into a medical induced coma while medical staff tried to figure out what happened. Doctors found that his potassium levels were extremely high, so he was sent for emergency dialysis. During this time, his heart beat, blood pressure and oxygen levels were all low and being held up by medication and machines. Due to the amount of times that he experienced cardiac arrest, doctors were concerned about his brain function. It was also discovered that even though he had received the COVID vaccine, he was in fact positive for it. On top of his kidney failure, many of his other organs were starting to fail or create problems. On August 9th, doctors gave the unbearable news that they did not believe he would ever recover fully and that he would need help from machines to continue to live. It was his wish to not live that way, so as a family we made the hardest decision of our lives and decided to let him go peacefully and end the pain.
Late Monday night, doctors took him off of all medication and machines that were keeping him in stable condition. They kept pain medication going so that he was comfortable the entire time. At 12:35am on Tuesday August 10th, he took his last breath and was finally let go to be pain free. No more fighting, no more sickness. He fought for his life so many times.
During his time as a father and husband, he was the best friend, coach, driving instructor, teacher and supporter. He was the glue to our family and we will miss him forever, but never forget all of the amazing memories.
As everyone knows, medical and funeral expenses are expensive and make this already difficult situation that much harder to go through. Anything helps. The entire Kirchoff family appreciates any donations, prayers or positive thoughts at this time.