Love for Andy

To know Andy Phillips, is to LOVE Andy Phillips! Andy is a loving husband, father, son, brother and best friend anyone can ask for.  We are all so lucky to have him in our life! Most of you have learned by now that on Sunday March 29, 2020, Andy was admitted to Chester County Hospital being Covid + after battling at home for 9 days with high fevers, cough, fatigue (and going to the ER on Thursday March 26th and being sent home after a couple hours). Andy was admitted from the ER to the ICU in respiratory failure mid afternoon on high flow oxygen and supportive measures. He was able to text with Trish and the kids and in the early evening and he later called Trish to try to reassure her he was ok and thank her for getting him the help he needed. This call means so much to Trish because he was whisked away quickly from the car and she hasn’t been able to see him once since then. Sadly, as the night went on, Andy continued to need more respiratory support and the skilled team at CCH electively sedated and intubated him onto the ventilator by 3am. The team at CCH worked tirelessly and compassionately to help Andy. At this time, we requested a transfer to Penn but because of Andy being so critical and Chester County Hospital being a Penn facility, it was decided by Penn to keep him at CCH as they could fully support him there.  A few days later, on April 2nd, Andy’s kidneys began to shut down as a result of the virus and the relentless toll it was taking on his body and he was placed on dialysis. For the next 15 days, Andy remained deeply sedated on the ventilator and dialysis and despite all the supportive measures and medications, the fevers continued daily and he would take 1 step forward, 3 steps backward. Just when we thought he was turning the corner and had been 24hrs fever free Easter night, he experienced acute respiratory changes on Monday, April 13th and became even more critical as the ventilator was not able to keep up with his oxygen demands as his lungs became very stiff and more compromised. As a result, we again requested an immediate transfer to Penn and with some special help, Penn accepted the transfer and came to pick Andy up by helicopter 6 hours later to try and save his life with advanced life support as we were told he was running out of time and options. Andy was placed on ECMO life support on Tuesday morning, April 14th and we now await his miracle of healing with all of you.

Through all of this, one thing has remained constant, prayers. Prayers of hundreds and hundreds of Andy’s family, friends, coworkers, church and school communities and strangers rallied behind Trish and the kids to pray with and for Andy. Your prayers, friendship, and countless acts of kindness have lifted all of us and remain the most important thing to us. We realize just how many are suffering in so many different ways, how many are unemployed and struggling to make ends meet and we are all so uncertain of what the future will bring and so we want you to know the power of prayers is most important to us. However, after so many requests from so many of you that love Andy and Trish over the last few weeks, we have followed your suggestion and the repeated requests and created this go fund me page to help support Andy and his family throughout this ordeal. All proceeds donated will go towards Andy’s medical and recovery expenses, outside of insurance coverage, related to his illness and subsequent rehabilitation. With Andy still in critical condition, and a long road ahead of him for healing, these generous donations will help support him and the family on this unexpected journey. We will provide updates here and on social media to continue to inform all those who care so much for him and his family. Thank you for loving Andy and praying for his miracle with us! xoxo