Joe Bruggeman and Family Medical Emergency

Thank you for taking the time to look into this GoFundMe. We are fundraising to assist with living and medical expenses associated with Joe Bruggeman's battle with COVID-19.

Joe began his COVID-19 symptoms October 14th and they progressively got worse. On October 23rd he was experiencing shortness of breath and pain in his chest along with a high fever. Kristi and Joe called the ER and they suggested he be seen. Kristi and Addison dropped him off in the Emergency Room garage at Altru. They were told to go home and they would let them know if he would need to be picked up or if he would be admitted. Joe eventually called Kristi and told her he was being admitted into the COVID unit and no visitors.

Due to isolation protocol and no visitors allowed in the COVID unit, family couldn't see Joe until November 4th (12 days later) and at this point he was already heavily sedated, intubated and medically paralyzed.

Joe remains intubated, on a ventilator and sedated. It is expected that he will be like this for quite some time, weeks or possibly months. There are a lot of unknowns with COVID-19. For more in-depth medical details please visit and follow Joe's CaringBridge site at https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/joebruggeman

Joe will have a long road ahead of him, battling to get off the ventilator, regaining his strength and likely learning how to walk again. It isn't uncommon for patients in Joe's situation to be hospitalized for months. It is looking as though Joe won't be able to go back to work for a minimum of 6 months, if not longer.

With Joe not being able to work and provide for his family's living and medical expenses we are asking for donations to help Kristi with those things; their family has been unexpectedly thrown into a single income situation, unknown when that will change. Any donation, however big or small, can help.

Kristi is extremely grateful for all of the love, support and prayers she's received from friends, family and strangers. As you can imagine, Kristi is extremely stressed and worried about Joe's health. If we can work together to alleviate some financial stress it would be extremely helpful for their family to make it through these next six months to a year on a single income.

We appreciate you taking the time to read through this. Any donation, prayer, thought, call or text is greatly appreciated.