Daniel Family Support

On Sunday, July 18th when I woke up, Donovan was struggling to breath after being sick for a few days. I told him I believed he needed a COVID test and that's where we began. I took him to Urgent Care in Joplin, who confirmed he was positive for COVID and did a chest x-ray to check for pneumonia. There was evidence of pneumonia and they referred us to go to the hospital for an IV and medication. After 8 hours at the hospital in Joplin, we were discharged and sent home.

Monday Donovan was riding an IV cocktail high, which included steroids and he was feeling better. He was able to rest well and his symptoms seemed mild.

In the early morning hours Tuesday, Donovan spiked a fever of 103 and I was pushing Tylenol and ibuprofen every two hours. He started having more severe breathing problems but assured me he was fine. At 8am I called our family doctor, who requested I get a pulse/ox monitor and call him back with Donovan's oxygen levels. When I called him back and left a message, Donovan's oxygen was bouncing between 74-76. I knew something wasn't right but couldn't get him to let me take him to the hospital.

A few minutes later Donovan told me he needed to go to the bathroom but wasn't sure he could get up. I assisted him into the bathroom, where he started to collapse and I was able to sit him on the stool in our bathroom. He was white as a ghost, he was struggling to breath, he said his vision went blurry, and when I got the pulse/ox on him, his oxygen was below 50. I told him I was calling an ambulance and he convinced me to take him in our car so I didn't scare our daughters.

After getting him in the car and arriving at the hospital, his oxygen levels were back below 50. They immediately started oxygen and then did a chest x-ray and cat scan of his lungs. The x-ray showed his pneumonia was much more advanced and they found pulmonary embolisms in both lungs. I was very quickly told that Mercy - Carthage was unable to care for him due to how sick he was. They began trying to find a hospital in the area with an open ICU bed.

Hours later we were told he might remain in the ER for a couple days until they can find a bed because they had called all hospitals in Missouri, NW Oklahoma, and NE Arkansas with an ICU and no one had an available bed. Finally they came in and said he would be transferred to Bolivar, MO via med flight after he was able to tolerate a bipap machine for hour.

While in the air, the oxygen equipment failed and they were unable to continue oxygen treatment. When Donovan arrived at the ICU in Bolivar, his oxygen has fallen below 70 again. They were helping to stabilize him and calm him down when I arrived at the hospital. Due to how upset he was, the ICU charge nurse felt the appropriate thing to do was let me in to help calm him down. I was dressed in full PPE and was allowed in for a short time. Once I left, I was told I would not be allowed back into the hospital for 21 days after his positive test date (August 8th).

The next day, the staff explained to me there is a trail behind their hospital which leads to the ICU rooms and they have all their COVID patients on the outside wall, so they can see their loved ones through the window. I visited Donovan 3 times on Wednesday and the decision was made that since I couldn't go into the hospital, I would pickup our girls and return home to try and give them as much normalcy as possible during this time as well as continue to drive back and forth to Bolivar as time allows and do window visits.

Through the day Wednesday, the doctor discussed with Donovan the possibility of a ventilator and how hard it will be to come off of it. Both of us were obviously upset by this information and Donovan started 'fighting' the oxygen. He was trying to prove that his lungs could 'outwork' the machines and then they'd let him go home. In turn, he only made his lungs more overworked. In the later afternoon, his bipap machine was turned up to 100% and we were told if additional oxygen was needed, we would go onto the ventilator.

Donovan and I had a long talk about God being in control, about God being the ultimate healer, and that he can't stress about things he can't control. He agreed to fight as much as he can, but not fight the process. Our morning update including lots of positives; including lowered oxygen rate, good efforts with the respiratory therapy, and a strong and positive attitude from Donovan.

I am also working with his work and insurance company to determine how income and bills will affect our family. While he will still be paid 80% of high wages, there are still bills and expenses which have to be paid in our home to maintain our daily lives as well as thousands of dollars worth of medical bills on their way. My initial thoughts on creating a GoFundMe account was, 'we will be fine, we are a two income family.. we have always been able to pay our bills and provide for our family.. we will be fine.' Since then, reason has been talked into me and I know this is a massive strain on our family. Many people have reached out and asked how they can help, what they can provide, or if they can give monetary donations.. with most of those questions going unanswered due to pride.

Now is not the time to be 'too proud' and it's the time to rely on others to help and love our family. Whether you're not able to make a donation or not, we ask that you please pray for Donovan to continue to heal and not end up on a ventilator.

Lord, hear me, because I ask for what is right. Listen to my cry for help. Hear my prayer. It doesn't come from lips that tell lies. Psalm 17:1 NIRV