John DeHaan Jr. Family

John is my baby brother but I am only one of five- he has three other siblings, three brothers-in-law, seven siblings by marriage, seven children, and a wife. Both sets of his parents are alive and still together.  He has twelve nieces & nephews and had just become a grandpa before he passed away on November 7th, 2021 at age 41. He has many cousins, friends, church family, and coworkers that will also be missing him and wondering why this all happened as it did.

He walked into the hospital with what he thought was a bad cold on October 17th, 2021. He was diagnosed with covid and spent the next week on oxygen and a CPAP machine to help his blood oxygen levels come back up. It was not working and the CO2 levels were too high in his blood so they sedated him and put him on a ventilator. At one point he was on the list for the ECMO machine at three hospitals in the Washington/Oregon area but a bed never became available in the window of time needed for the treatment. His body was completely dependent on the ventilator after that and the different medicines they were giving him.

John's lung collapsed on November 7th, and he rapidly declined as the family rushed to his bedside to pray for him and love on him (some of them seeing him for the first time because of covid regulations on visitors). This had been incredibly hard for all of us as we are a tight-knit family and usually, almost never a moment goes by where our loved ones are in the hospital without a friend or family member being in the room, holding their hand, loving on them, talking to the nurses and doctors, and having a much clearer understanding of what is going on.

We feel robbed. In the worst kind of way- with John living his best life one day and now...... just gone.

 

John lived a very adventurous life, he loved his family dearly, and would go out of his way to help anyone in need.  He was the kind of person that would jump out of his car to give a young stranger CPR who had been skateboarding and hit by a drunk driver with no thought of his own safety.....

My brother was a volunteer firefighter, had his pilot's license, summited Mt. Rainer many times, ran sound for his church, and helped start an orphanage for children in Myanmar (formerly Burma).  His most recent adventure was starting his own handyman business which included working side-by-side with his Dad on rental properties.

 

John Jr. married his love, Anna, on August 25th, 2012. He had already gotten full custody of his son John III at that time and he and Anna added three more children to their family- with the last child being born two weeks ago in the same hospital where John Jr. was fighting for his life. Sadly he will never meet his newest little guy Isaiah Matthew - named after a dream that John had had.

 

Anna will be raising her three children; Isaac 5, Faith 3, and Isaiah 2 weeks and will have many needs in the next weeks, months, and years to come. The money raised here will go directly to her and her kiddos as they need to secure reliable transportation (John was her mechanic), Christmas is coming, and winter is upon us.

 

From the heart of a sister please know that we as a family will do our best to help Anna and her littles as well as John III through this time in honor of our brother and our love for them.

We thank you for partnering alongside this family in these hard times.

Anything you are able to contribute is immensely appreciated as we all try to navigate through this tragedy.

Thank you for your prayers and love.

 

Until we meet again little bro, Otis Rides!