My dad started feeling ill on Saturday 8/7/21.  On Monday morning 8/9 he called his PCP Dr. Thomas Winston to see if he could make an appointment to be seen, that he though he might have Covid.  They told him that they couldn’t see him and that if he felt like he couldn’t breath to go to the ER.  So he medicated at home with vitamins and over the counter meds. On Thursday, 8/12 he called Dr. Winston’s office again and was told again that if he felt like he couldn’t breathe, to go to the ER and would try to fit him in to be seen on Friday.  Dad told me he really didn’t want to go to the ER because the news was reporting that the hospital was full and there were no beds available and he didn’t want to take up someone else’s bed that might need it worse than him.  Because that’s who he was to his core.  Always thinking of others in his community. He also told me he didn’t want to die in a waiting room by himself.  Overnight, his O2 dropped into the 70s and my mom rushed him to the NWTH freestanding ER early Friday morning and they immediately transferred him to the CICU, as he was a cardiac patient from a previous heart attack 20 years prior.

We were not allowed to see him but were able to communicate with him by telephone.

My mom also go sick during this time and the day that they placed him on a ventilator, I took my mom to the same freestanding ER so that she could receive a monoclonal antibody treatment.  We did not know that this was an option until my mom got so sick, or of course we would have gotten him this treatment right away.  I was desperate to find some help for my mom so I started reaching out to my nursing friends for help.  My mom actually was the 1st person to receive this treatment at that specific location, even though they had it available to patients weeks prior.  No one in our community even knew about it being an option, and Dr. Winston’s office never once mentioned it being an option to him early on.

While my mom was receiving her monoclonal IV treatment, by herself nonetheless, I got a frantic call from my dad saying they wanted him to be put on the ventilator, that he was maxed out on the O2.  He was trying to reach mom, but she didn’t have her phone available during her treatment.  I finally got in touch with her and she was able to speak to him.  That was the last time either one of us spoke to him.  She was alone, in a cold treatment room and understandably broke down.  The nurses were very kind to her and helped get her to me.  The last time I spoke with him was one of the hardest days of my life.  I not only told my dad I loved him for the last time, but was in fear of my mom being in the same predicament soon.

Also important to note, dad had reported to Dr. Winston that he had become incontinent and was having some kidney issues months prior to this.  Dr. Winston’s medical advice to him was to drink more water. He never recommended for him to be seen by a urologist or nephrologist, or never offered any other treatment protocol.  So he obviously had some untreated kidney issues going on prior to contracting covid.

When he was admitted into the CICU, they started Remdesivir and had him on high flow O2 until his decline and was then placed on a vent.  While on the vent, he was having some afib episodes and his lungs were shot, but more than that, his kidneys began to shut down and was eventually placed on CRRT Dialysis.  His doctor had asked my sister-in-law, who was communication with his team over the phone, had dad been sick recently.  Because his labs looked worse than a full blown AIDS patient and was one of the worst covid patients he had seen from a lab stand-point.  Eventually they did a trach.  His heart actually started to stabilize and his lungs started to improve, but his kidneys never could recover, and on Sept 3rd, he started a steep decline with multi-organ failure and the family was called in.

My dad was an Amarillo Firefighter for 32 years and was married to my mom for 53 years.  He was dedicated to his community for more than 3 decades and saved the lives of countless people in his career and help hundreds, if not thousands of others.  Sadly, his community failed him and he lost his own life for it.

I made it my mission to help educate our friends and family that came down with covid to seek out the monoclonal antibody treatment (because NO ONE in our community was talking about it…not the news, not the health department, no one) and had dozens of people reach out to me about it.  His CaringBridge page had over 7,600 views.  Mom and dad’s story continued to save lives, even after his death.  It is infuriating that our medical community failed him.  At what point did it become accepted practice to not offer any sort of care for patients?  His pleas for help were ignored and he lost his life for it.

We talked briefly after his death about pursuing Dr. Winston for negligence and the hospital for the failed protocols they used, but the aftermath of my dad’s death was extremely difficult on my mom and I did not want to put her through any more emotional turmoil.  Now that more than a year has passed and more and more keeps coming out about the Remdesivir protocol killing people, I feel like his story needs to be shared once again.  I don’t want his death to be in vain and if I can help keep others from enduring this agony, I will be a voice since he no longer has one, and will continue on in serving his community as he did.