Danny's Road to Recovery

Hello Larkin Strong Army!

I am Kristen, Danny's older sister. As many of you know, January 18th marked the day our lives turned upside down and placed us on a rollercoaster we prayed every day to get off. COVID-19 had barged into our lives and put Danny, my little brother, in a position where he had to fight for his life. For six long days, our parents, my brother, Dj, myself and his beautiful girlfriend, Addie, would head to St Vincent's Hospital, sit in a waiting area in the ICU, and hope for news that Danny would come off the ventilator. Unfortunately, that was not God's plan; his lungs were giving up, he was on the highest settings the vent can offer, and there was no indication of improvements to be seen. My parents had to make a critical decision to have Danny undergo one of the most invasive operations a person can endure. Danny's last and final option to give him the best chance of survival from this awful virus was to be placed on an ECMO machine, which the medical staff called a "HailMary pass" to save his life. Luckily, Danny made it through the operation with ease and was airlifted to Hartford Hospital to receive the best care while on life support. As the days passed, we hinged on every word the doctors and nurses would tell us; we kept a log of the daily progress and unfortunate setbacks and traveled over an hour each day to Hartford to sit with Danny for the 30mins due to the hospital's visitation policy. This, what seemed to be a neverending emotional ride, consumed our lives. We logged our heartwrenching journey on Facebook to reach out for prayers, thoughts, support to help us through; it comforted us knowing we had so many people putting Danny in their prayers to tell God to heal him. Then February 18th rolled around, Danny was starting to come back to us! Day by day, the nurses were weaning the sedation medications. They had him at the lowest setting of the ECMO and drastically lowered the ventilator; he remained stable. All these things told us that his lungs were getting stronger and showing the medical team that he no longer needed the ECMO. He finally made it over the hump!

Now he is in the next phase of recovery. Danny had to fight for over a month to let his body repair itself, but now it's his turn to do the work. He will have to go through numerous types of rehabilitation to learn to breathe on his own, how to speak again, relearn to walk and regain strength in all his extremities due to being sedentary for such a long time. This road to recovery is the most trying for him mentally and physically. This fundraiser is to try and alleviate the financial stress during his rehabilitation period. Our goal is to help him get back on his feet and pay for the medical expenses that have inevitably been tacked on to this phase.

Any donation is appreciated. We have been so grateful for the outpour of love, prayers and support we have recieved throughout this difficult time. Thank you for being part of the Larkin Strong Army; you helped bring our Danny back!

With Love,

Kristen