Support Sean's Journey to Recovery

On March 31, 2021, our son Sean was admitted to the hospital with Covid 19. He tells everyone that he remembers going to the hospital and waking up two months later. As a result of complications from Covid, Sean was paralyzed when he woke up. He spent almost a year fighting moment by moment for his life in the first hospital, which included suffering a deep brain injury caused by lack of oxygen during a procedure. He experienced neglect and mistreatment in the second hospital, and finally found hope at the third.

 

Sean was paralyzed from the neck down. His vocal cords were paralyzed so that he could not speak, he could not indicate what he needed most, and he could not comprehend what had happened. This was devastating for him.

 

Doctors at the third hospital diagnosed Sean with having had contracted the paralyzing disease called Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). By this time, the disease was no longer active, meaning that it could not be treated; however, its effects are lingering. Even with the diagnosis, doctors could not say whether Sean will or will not walk again. But Sean’s faith is unwavering, and he is determined that, with God’s continued help, he will walk again.

 

Over the course of the second and third years, Sean embarked on an incredibly difficult and painful butproductive, positive, faith-filled journey toward recovery. He continues physical therapy four days a week and speech therapy twice a month. He puts forth amazing effort to improve every day. He can now move his armsand has some movement in his hands and fingers; he can move his legs and use his quads in the pool in order to walk and stand upright. His feet are still paralyzed. They told him that the area farthest from the heart would be the last thing to come back. Sean is 6‘5“, so it may take a while.

 

His speech is improving with help. His throat experienced severe trauma from his being intubated twice and having a tracheostomy. Granulomas formed in his throat because of the trauma, but the voicing therapy is helping to loosen the tightness in his throat. The hope is that in July a scan can be done to see what is really happening in his throat and vocal cords. 

 

As a result of this unspeakable trauma to Sean, our family has been deeply impacted physically, emotionally, mentally, and financially. We have gone from four incomes down to one. Sean does receive a minimal amount of Social Security disability. My husband continues to work in New Mexico while our middle son and I are here to provide the 24/7 caregiving that Sean requires. 

 

Over the course of these three years, many of you have reached out with prayers, support, comfort, hugs, and other acts of love that have sustained us. People who don’t even know Sean but have heard about his circumstances have sent cards and conveyed their sympathy and empathy. We have never felt alone in this journey, and we are beyond thankful for our physical families, church families, friends, hospital friends, and the doctors who administered to Sean to keep him alive. Above all, we are thankful to God that we got to keep our son.

 

However, we continue as a family to find ourselves in great financial need. We have lived in an apartment for the past 2-1/2 years that does not offer wheelchair accessibility. There is not a shower that works for him, so we have done bed baths since he was released from the hospital. It is not optimal, but we are doing our best.

 

We hope to find a place that meets Sean‘s needs for accessibility and showering in order to alleviate some of the anxiety that he feels. If we can remove some of those obstacles, we can focus more on the physical improvements that he needs to accomplish every day.

 

This is only a brief summary of Sean’s journey. For those who have seen the agony and devastation that hisexperience has wreaked on his life, and who have watched the baby steps he has taken to come this far, two things stand out about Sean’s character: his faith in God and his sense of humor. He came out of that deep sleep swinging with both of those weapons, and what a blessing!

 

Sean does not count himself a victim; he simply wants his life back. We remain hopeful and prayerful that those things can happen.

 

If you are able and willing to help, we would be very grateful. If you are not financially able at this time, please consider forwarding this in order to get the word out to others who might be able to give.

 

We continue to ask for your prayers for Sean. That is the most important gift.