Maureen and Natalie Fagan saw COVID-19 take its toll on her older sister Adeline at a hospital in Houston this summer.
In the daily FaceTime calls around the clock, the sisters saw Adeline’s light skin and dark circles under her eyes.
Sleep awakened her. If she was not awakened every few hours for sessions of respiratory therapy, the shortness of breath would keep her up. A general feeling of anxiety accompanied her symptoms, and the frequent video calls became a way to keep her calm, Maureen said.
“At certain points, she was so weak that she could not hold her phone,” she said.
The sisters have not been able to speak to Adeline, 28, since the beginning of August, when she was transferred to an ICU in Houston. She is placed on a ventilator and ECMO machine, which oxygenates her blood. She becomes constantly sedative and often under drug-induced paralysis. She is expected to be on a ventilator for at least six to eight weeks.
A New York resident and graduate of the University of Buffalo Medical School, Adeline had completed her second year of residency as an OB-GYN in Houston. She tested positive in early July after starting to treat COVID-19 patients amid a spike in virus-related hospitalizations.
For Maureen and Natalie, their story is the ultimate cautionary tale. It provides a window into another life that is being taken over by the virus, one they say is an active runner and cyclist – now relying on machines to breathe.
“We want people to understand the seriousness of the situation,” Natalie Fagan said. ‘There are a lot of people who do not think they get sick. But the fact of the matter is that Adeline’s story is currently universal. We could be Adeline. So taking any precautions can protect you and your neighbor. Wear a mask, social distance, stay home if possible. You do not have to go through what Adeline is going through. ”
By Monday, a GoFundMe page for Adeline had already raised more than $ 105,000, which will go toward her medical expenses, travel expenses and various other bills. Her parents moved all the way back and forth from her home in Lafayette, New York, for Adeline’s treatment, making it impossible for her mother to work and care for her 91-year-old grandmother. The sisters are now picking up the snail in New York, while the parents tend to Adeline in Texas.
Maureen said Adeline’s work consisted most of delivering dolls. However, she had planned to work an 8-hour ER rotation for treatment of COVID-19 patients on July 8, when the Texas Department of State Health Services reported a then-record 9,610 hospitalizations. The nurses refused to name the hospital where they worked.
Towards that evening, Adeline began to become ill and to experience flu-like symptoms. A rapid COVID-19 test later showed a positive result. As someone who has already suffered from asthma, Adeline struggled for about a week with her short-term inhaler. It did not help, Maureen said. Her lips turned blue. That’s when she was admitted to the hospital.
In addition to her breathing, she also had muscle aches, pains and headaches, Maureen said.
“We never really thought it would get this far because you think this is not happening to you – that it’s something that is happening to other people,” Maureen said. ‘Adeline is not an unusual person, and it’s kind of unreal. When things go awry you wake up every morning and ask ‘What’s up’? ‘
Adeline’s story was shared by those who first saw her positive attitude and passion for her work. On Twitter, one woman who identified herself as her former teacher in medical school said she was “one of the dearest, most genuine people I have ever had the opportunity to work with.”
“This has shaken me to the core,” she said.
Dr Kevin Hopkins, a medical director at Driscoll Children’s Craniofacial & Cleft Center in Corpus Christi, said Adeline cared for her mother as a certified nursing assistant at Crouse Hospital in Syracuse.
They bundled, he said. His mother urged Adeline not to stop her applications for medical schools, despite her previous rejections.
“She was so loving and compassionate and caring for my mother (her last time in the hospital).” Hopkins said. “She is a very special person – she touched my family with her determination and heart and how kindly she treated my mother.”
