Louis Kushell: A Living Miracle

Many of you know Louis Kushell as the owner and cook at Louis’ Grille in Harrisburg, North Carolina. But beyond that, you know him as a man who loves to feed others, not only with food, but with happiness and life. My family knows him as husband, father, and papou.

 

In mid-August, Louis tested positive for COVID Pneumonia. The next morning, his wife Cindy and son Christos took him to the hospital because his oxygen levels were dangerously low and he could barely keep his eyes open. They dropped him off at the ER and waved goodbye to him as he sat there alone waiting to be helped. That was the last time any of his family members would see him for over 4 weeks.

 

For the first two weeks that Louis was in the hospital, he had good days and bad days. The hospital began treating him with Remdesivir which seemed to help during the first few days of treatment, but after the treatment period was over, Louis began to get worse. Louis’ lungs were quickly being engulfed by COVID Pneumonia and were hardening; making it even more difficult for the oxygen to fill his lungs and get into his blood stream.

 

As days went by, our family tried our best to stay in contact with the doctors and nurses, as well as Louis, to make sure he was getting the care he needed. On Friday, August 27th, the family was on a group phone call with Louis trying to encourage him and tell him that he needs to get better; to which Louis responded with a very strong and loud, “I WILL!”

 

On the following Tuesday, Louis had the worst day of coughing that he had experienced so far. He coughed so severely that it blew a hole in one of his lungs.

 

In the early hours of Wednesday, September 1st, Louis underwent an emergency ventilation. At 3am, Cindy got the call from the hospital that the medical staff had been working for 3 hours to save his life, but that there was a high chance he would not make it. They told Cindy to call her children.

 

Her children came immediately to be with Cindy and they sat for 3 more hours on the living room floor at Cindy and Louis’ house, praying.

 

Finally at 6:30am, we got the call that Louis was stable but very critical. For the rest of that day, we sat by the phone waiting for updates and praying. On Thursday September 2nd, Louis went into kidney failure. (Louis only has one kidney because he lost the other from a soccer injury as a boy. It was a miracle that he survived that injury, but was left with only one kidney.) The doctors called to get permission to do an emergency dialysis procedure.

 

At that point, Louis was now fully ventilated in an induced coma, on heavy paralytics, and in kidney failure; with lungs that were 80% COVID, severely infected with Pneumonia that progressed to ARDS, and a hole in his lung that was leaking fluid and air into his neck/chest area.

 

On a phone call that day, the doctor told Christos that Louis’ lungs were the worst they had seen. Christos asked the doctor what Louis’ chances of making it were and they told him very low.

 

That Thursday night, we were able to FaceTime with Louis’ nighttime ICU nurse, Stephanie. She told us that if we were ready, she would put the camera on Louis for us to see him. We knew looking at Louis in the state he was in would be hard. We weren’t sure how he was going to look and if this was going to end up being the last time any of us saw him alive. Christos was the first to look at Louis. And then the rest of the family joined him behind the phone screen. We sat there talking to Louis, hoping he could hear us, while Stephanie spoke words of encouragement and rubbed Louis’ head for us since we couldn’t be there. We quickly realized that Stephanie was an angel sent from God. She took the time to make us feel comfortable and assured us that she was going to care for Louis the way she would want her father cared for. 

Before we hung up, Stephanie asked if we wanted to pray over Louis. So we stood there huddled together around the phone and prayed over him. The emotions during our prayer were so overwhelming that even Stephanie cried. There is no doubt that you could feel the presence of The Lord in that moment.

 

All the medications and procedures that could be done, had been done; and it wasn’t enough. All that was left now was God. And it was in that moment that He intervened.

 

As another week went by, Louis began to slowly progress. Day by day, he got a little bit stronger. His oxygen levels began to improve. By the 10th day that Louis had been on the ventilator, the doctors began to ease him off of sedation. It was time for him to wake up.

After a couple days, Louis was still struggling to come out of the coma, so doctors ordered a brain MRI to check his brain function and make sure there were no signs of a stroke while he was sedated. The MRI came back clear with no signs of a stroke.

After another day or two, Louis began to follow small commands. He would squeeze a hand and move his head slightly, but once he was able to stick his tongue out at the doctor (in true Louis fashion), we knew he was coming out of it.

 

At that point, the doctors said it was time for Louis to have a tracheostomy so that he could fully wake up but still have the help of the ventilator to breathe. He had a successful tracheostomy on September 14th and he began to wake up. Once Louis was awake enough, the doctors began breathing treatments and Louis continued to get dialysis everyday since kidney failure.

 

On September 19th, a little over a month since testing positive, Louis finally tested negative and, one-at-a-time, family could go in to sit with him. On September 21st, Louis was able to get his first words out since being ventilated. On September 22nd, Louis urinated for the first time since kidney failure. And on October 1st, the ventilator was removed from his room and he was breathing completely on his own.

Louis has beat all the odds. He has left so many people in awe, and we will never stop proclaiming that Christ healed him and that he is a living miracle. 

 

Louis is now in rehab and has a very long road of recovery ahead of him. We know that many of you have seen the Grille’s doors closed for quite a while now and are wondering when the doors will open back up again.

 

Louis is very aware that God saved his life and has allowed him to go through this for many reasons. And one of those reasons may be a bit hard for all of our wonderful Louis’ Grille family members to hear, but is clear to Louis and his family; Louis will be retiring from the kitchen. It’s time for him to live his life with his wife and family. He has worked so hard his entire life to provide for his family and serve others through the restaurant. But God has shown him that it’s time for him to heal and live his life at ease without the pressures that come with the Grille.

 

That being said, the Grille is not going away, but just having a change in staffing and will open up again soon. Now that Louis is progressing more and more everyday, we know the bills are coming; and having had the Grille shut down for so long now, we know that what is owed may be a bit overwhelming. Louis is never one to ask others for help. He is always the one to give and never ask in return. But having witnessed what this family has gone through, I’m just wanting to put something out there that may help take some of the burden off of them while Louis continues to recover. 
And beyond any monetary help, we continue to ask for your prayers more than anything.