*Please read all updates below to understand*

On Christmas my dad, David Wooten, was rushed to the hospital due to his chronic illnesses becoming worse. On Christmas morning doctors called us in and recommended hospice care.

I broke the news to my dad that he didn’t have much time left. We held hands in a circle — me, my partner, and my dad — and decided as a family that hospice was our best option. Out in the hallway I decided then I wanted to bring him to our home for the end of his life.

My dad caught COVID on January 3rd. 

His nursing home put him in isolation without proper supervision, a call light, or proper medical equipment or treatments, or a phone line to the ward. He was given a metal bell to ring if he needed help. There was no way to leave a message to check on my dad, and there were no updates concerning his condition. Despite my best efforts to advocate for him while he was in isolation, including a conference call with nursing staff and a social worker, my dad’s health deteriorated.

Then on the 13th of January, 2022 he fell on the floor and was without his oxygen for an unknown amount of time. The staff called me and said he had “a little bump” but that he was back in his bed and “fine”. When I spoke to my dad on the phone I knew right away that this wasn’t true. 

A CT scan revealed a brain bleed. The ER doctor was not sure he would make it. I was allowed to come into the emergency department to see him for what I thought might be the last time. I held his hand and told him I loved him. That night I prayed harder than I ever have for my dad's brain bleed to stay stable and to be able to bring him home for hospice.

He survived the night, but for the next few days his covid pneumonia worsened. The doctors were not optimistic, and began suggesting comfort care. Our family prayed and asked the doctors to wait a few days to see if new medications could help.

We experienced a true miracle when a few days later my dad was off of a breathing machine and talking.

For a while we were hopeful. I made this gofundme to try to secure greater financial stability in taking him home on hospice.

I fought the hospital on wanting to discharge him. I fought daily. I went through two appeals and we made it until the day where I was ready to take him home, February 3rd. Then he declined again.

His doctor called him a fighter, but said the combination of his failing health and the fall at the nursing home was too much to recover from.

I didn’t get him home like I had hoped. I will forever be heartbroken that we didn’t have more time to spend like we all wanted. It’s very hard to feel like we were so close to succeeding. I however am grateful I could be at his side until the end.

My dad had a very hard life. He survived so much. We were estranged for years, but like I told him at the end, our hearts found our way back to each other. As hard as his illness and loss has been I am so grateful to have been his daughter and that I could be there for him at the end of his life. The thing about a broken heart is that when you piece it back together you fill in the cracks with more love, your heart just grows. I’ve learned so much about love through this loss. 

Thank you to everyone who read this entire message.

I’m keeping the gofundme up for now to help me fund his cremation and memorial. It’s also to help me recover financially. I gave my dad my all at the end and I fell behind on bills at a time when my partner lost her job. 

Thank you so much for reading.

Naia