Steve Sechler's Struggle for Survival from COVID

Hi, my name is Erika and my great friend of over 26 years, Steve Sechler, has been fighting for his life since May 21, 2021. Steve is a gifted aspiring musician, an IT professional, a baseball fanatic (LA Angels) and a great friend to so many. Steve has been fighting for his life from multiple severe complications from COVID-19 pneumonia after he was admitted to a Nashville, TN hospital on 5/21/21. He had just celebrated his 43rd birthday a month prior and had no underlying medical conditions. He was quickly moved to the COVID ICU and put on a ventilator 2 days later and put in a medically induced coma. Steve has faced every setback imaginable since hitting the ICU floor and continues to fight for his life every day. His family and friends have had to watch helplessly through this horrible roller coaster. Steve's family just suffered the tragic loss of his Father when he passed away suddenly in 8/2020. Now it is just Steve of Nashville, and his Mom and Steve's younger Sister, Heather, of South Carolina. Steve is so ill that his Mother was called by one of the ICU doctors on 7/14 telling her that there was nothing else they could do for him and that it was time to let him go. His Mom and Sister drove straight to Nashville and she pushed for a meeting with the medical director and some of the ICU doctors who have been treating Steve. They came up with a plan to give Steve one more chance to fight, or until his body said he could not fight anymore. On 7/19 they switched out the ECMO machine with another one, and on 7/20 he started inching towards improvement. Steve is showing that he still has fight in him! Steve has received every FDA approved medication used to treat COVID related complications.

Steve has a very, very long road ahead of him as he will need a double lung transplant, but not until his other organs are operating properly, and he is able to walk a bit. He is going to require many additional months in the hospital, and after the lung transplant, as well as after inpatient rehabilitation, he will need to live in an apartment within 10 minutes of the transplant team at Vanderbilt Hospital in Nashville for at least 6-8 months before he can continue rehabilitating at his Mother's house in South Carolina. He needs to be able to continue making music, he just finalized his first album! Steve sings, plays every instrument, and mixes his own music, and has many friends in the music industry who help each other and are a community.

As of 8/9, Steve has been on a heart and lung life support machine (ECMO) for 64 days and counting and will remain on ECMO until after the lung transplant, or if there is another miracle and his lungs continue to heal enough. If for some reason Steve ends up not needing the lung transplant, because his lung's healed enough,his road to recovery will be just as long. We still don’t know if he will have long-term COVID related symptoms, or Long Term COVID. Some of the many complications he has suffered are, but not limited to: lung collapse, tracheostomy where the ventilator is attached to, double pneumonia(COVID plus bacterial), kidney failure for which he had to start dialysis on 7/5, right sided heart enlargement and failure, sepsis (7 times), ileus (a bowel problem), he’s had to have four bronchoscopy procedures (so far) that are four hours long to remove large amounts of mucus from his lungs to help his infections, and to get samples for lab tests, but unfortunately there’s too much damage and he has no viable lung tissue left. He has many blood pressure issues trying to stabilize his blood pressure and is requiring more than the usual doses as well as many types of blood pressure medications, plus he’s needed countless other medications. He has needed a PICC line for easier medication access and for feeding, and Steve has had to be in a medically induced coma multiple times. Until last week Steve had to remain on a lot of sedation medication because he was so agitated, from anxiety and feeling like he cannot breathe. The doctors have been decreasing his sedation medication so he can be more alert and to be on less medication, when trying to reduce the sedation medication previously his oxygen saturation decreased. He has also had blood clotting issues, and has muscle atrophy from being in bed so long, just to name a few…

The donation goal amount is just the beginning as many hospital bills haven’t even been processed by his insurance, and we do not know what is to come. Steve’s Mom is worried that his medical insurance limit will run out due to the enormous cost of his intensive medical care. The hospital has started to ask his Mom for some of the high deductible and copays thus far. We are asking and will be using the money for medical expenses, travel/hotel expenses for his Mom and Sister, housing for after his lung transplant because he needs to live within 10 minutes of the transplant team in Nashville for 6-8 months, moving expenses to move his belongings into storage, a storage unit for many months, making his Mom’s house in South Carolina handicapped friendly (especially the bathroom), fiscal management of all of his bill’s, and many of the other expenses that we know he will have. I have read that an ECMO machine (just the machine itself) is around $5000/day and we know he will be responsible for his share, and Steve will be unable to work for many months after he gets strong enough to get his bilateral lung transplant, receives inpatient rehabilitation, and moves to South Carolina to recover at his Mom’s house, medications, etc.

There is so much unknown at this time and the donations will be used to help Steve continue to fight for his recovery. Steve is finally able to partially communicate which has delighted everyone. Steve and his Mom were able to have a brief video chat on Saturday (8/7) while Joy held the phone for him. Steve made it known that he cannot go through this recovery without the close support of his Mom and Sister; he was informed and is anticipating he will be in the hospital until at least Christmas.  Ideally, he would like to be transferred to a hospital in South Carolina to be close to his family. For now, due to Steve’s complex condition, it is not a good idea to leave the exceptional care he is receiving in Nashville. Understandably, Steve is lonely and scared as he is now alert and realizing the gravity of his illness. The support of Joy as well as some local friends has been a blessing and continues to lift his spirits. Steve’s Mom, Marilyn is now on a quest to find an apartment or room to rent in Nashville for several months. Obviously these expenses are unexpected but necessary. Steve needs his family by his side in order to aid in his recovery. The last thing we want is for Steve to be lonely and be stressed about bills when he needs to focus 100% on recovering from his severe illness. Every donation will be greatly appreciated and used wisely. Donating and sharing this GoFundMe with all of your friends and family can help relieve some of the stresses COVID-19 has brought on Steve, and his Mom’s stress, so they can focus 100% on Steve and his recovery. The family just lost the patriarch of their family last August and is still reeling from that pain and stress.

I am trying to help the Sechler family as much as I can from CO by raising these donations, and Steve’s Mom Marilyn will be the beneficiary of this account so she can withdraw funds and take care of all that is needed. Please consider helping Steve and his family in any way you can. Even if you cannot donate, please consider sharing this GoFundMe link with your friends and family. Steve needs to not stress about all of this during his recovery, as does his Mom and younger Sister. COVID-19 has been tragic to so many families, and now Steve and his family are needing our help! Steve’s Mom has opened a separate bank account so people who are not comfortable donating online will have the option to mail a check. If that is the case, please make the check out as described so it can be deposited, and mail the check to the bank address provided below. If you have any questions feel free to contact me by clicking the link next to my name below.  I will also be posting updates on Steve’s progress. Thank you for your help!
Make checks payable to: Marilyn Sechler Acct #8105, and adding "Sechler Recovery" in the memo line. 
Please mail the check to: Regions Bank
                                                       1799 Whiskey Rd.
                                                       Aiken, SC  29803