In memory of Les Pickrell

My big brother, Les, has always been my hero, my protector, my first best friend. He would not want to ask for help, but I'm doing this for his family. I don't want Les or his family to worry about all the medical bills that are compiling and the many more to come in his recovery. They have insurance but it only covers so much. If you have the means and feel it in your heart to donate, our family would be so grateful.

I'll tell you his story and I hope it opens some eyes and people will realize that this could easily happen to you or your loved ones. When it hits home, your whole world changes.

Les and his wife Michelle will both tell you that they weren't "covid believers". They thought of it as a flu and only the weak would suffer. Not healthy people. Les contracted covid through someone he worked with. Michelle also became positive. No big deal, they thought at first. They followed the quarantine rules, as they should, and stayed home. Michelle monitored their oxygen levels and noticed that Les was losing more energy each day and his oxygen continued to lower. When he started looking gray in the face, she had to drop him off at the emergency room. This was April 4th. He was immediately put on oxygen but not really getting better. He developed covid pneumonia and was put in ICU April 8th. Les's anxiety was through the roof. They decided the best way to get his body to calm down was to put him in a medically induced coma. They placed him on a ventilator. This was not what we wanted but it's what he needed. They found microscopic blood clots in his lungs at this point. He developed a staph infection. This was April 13th. That was the day that we thought we were going to lose him. The doctors told us to prepare for him not to recover from this. They weren't sure that the medication they were going to give him for the staph infection would work. But it did. He's a fighter. We thought the worst was behind us but there are so many ups and downs with covid. April 16th, not wanting to keep him on the ventilator through his mouth, he was able to have a successful (temporary) tracheotomy so the ventilator has a short cut to his lungs. This is much easier on his body. Michelle was finally able to visit him on April 18th! He had not been able to have any visitors and they would allow one a day.  April 19th he developed a hemopneumothorax. A chest tube was placed. A liter of blood was removed immediately but the chest tube is still in place to drain any fluid from forming. He was slowly weaned off his paralytic meds from the induced coma and off that completely now. He was weaned off 1 of his sedation meds completely and actually opened his eyes on May 2nd! He was able to semi-communicate with Michelle by blinking slowly to her questions. May 3rd they decided to move him to an LTAC (long term acute care) facility. That transfer was rough on his body so they sedated him a bit more to make him more comfortable. He hasn't been able to keep his eyes open too long but Michelle saw him smile when she visited on May 6th. He has a long recovery ahead of him. We don't know how long he'll be at the LTAC. We are just grateful that he has come this far and he's still with us. We hold our breath every day for good news. 

I decided not to post pictures of him post covid. It's not something I want people to see. He's changed. His daughter, Brooke, shared a picture of her holding his hand when she was able to visit him. That picture is powerful and that will be the only picture I share of him in the hospital. Once he's home and back to himself, he will have the best stories and may share his photos at that time. I can't wait to hear him tell me "I love you more" so I can tell him "I love you Les"

Thank you for taking the time to read this. Please continue to pray, give good vibes and thoughts to Les's recovery. I believe it has helped him come this far.