Support the Halewood Family

This is Kara, Kevin's daughter. I'm creating this GoFundMe to help raise money for my Mom's expenses due to my father's unexpected and wrongful death.

Kevin's Life:

My dad's life was like a movie - anyone that heard his story would find it hard to believe. From flying on his own to England at age 5, being best friends with people in the Mafia, meeting my Mom and knowing he would marry her on the first date, running part of an airport and helping bust a drug ring - He was truly amazing and had a story to tell. He found joy through giving - to the Mobile Tech Industry and creating Mobile Tech Expo, donating time and efforts to the Larry King Cardiac Foundation, ensuring industry leaders we lost were honored at MTE, caring for baby squirrels, raising butterflies, making sure we (his children) were always set. To know Kevin is to love Kevin. His nickname was Happy Halewood and it was absolutely fitting.

My father touched more lives than one can imagine. His family, friends and the entire Mobile Tech industry is mourning over this loss.

His Heart Transplant:

Kevin was hospitalized for three months starting in October of 2023 and was not expected to survive due to his failing heart. I know many of you have been following his story and how difficult that time was for our family. Luckily, he was put to the top of the transplant list and received a heart transplant on November 17, 2023. He survived and had a very positive outlook on life. He gave a thumbs up to every staff member. Even the sanitation and maintenance staff knew him - he spoke to them, heard their stories and gave them thumbs ups post-transplant too. My dad started making plans with my Mom for his new life and kept saying all he wanted was to be well enough to make it to Mobile Tech Expo in 2024. This pushed him to work hard with recovery.

Hospitalization:

He was doing very well but had a relapse when he fell in December causing two brain bleeds. He was hospitalized for a week and then sent to a rehab facility to work on recovery. Upon coming home around the holidays, he started to get weaker and had trouble eating with the new year.

There was a slow but steady decline in his health and, unfortunately, he had to be hospitalized last week to receive a feeding tube to help him get nourishment. He never got to go to MTE 2024 like he was hoping.

When he arrived, they found his magnesium levels were critically low. This was a supplement he should have been receiving from the get-go but his transplant team failed to prescribe. They put him on a regular floor, not a cardiac unit. My mom and I were by his side 14 hours a day at the hospital and only left at night to rest.

On Thursday night, the nurse that was supposed to be watching him failed to do so. When we arrived he was drenched from an infiltrated IV line, shaking and cold. We spoke to the nursing supervisor and transplant team. They assured us this would not happen again and they would make sure Kevin received a high standard of care. We were able to get a bedside nurse to be with him through the night so he would have someone making sure he was okay since we had such a bad experience before.

The hospital put a dobhoff feeding tube in after they got his levels up and he started to receive nourishment on Friday, 2/2. The GI doctor came to see us that day and explained he needed a more permanent Peg tube put into his stomach where he could have feedings once he leaves the hospital. We agreed to the procedure which should have taken place early the next day but would start the dobhoff feedings that day so he could get some nourishment and hopefully start feeling better. The GI doctor explained it would be on a drip feeding so he would have a low risk of aspirating as long as he was upright. The same nurse was on his case that night and I spoke with her about what took place the night before to ensure he would be taken care of. We left around 8:30 once the bedside nurse got settled and knew someone was watching him.

His death:

We received a phone call at 5:30 AM that he was vomiting throughout the night and had trouble breathing. We arrived to our worst nightmare. He was in the CTICU, unconscious with a racing heartrate and had labored breathing. The doctors explained he needed to be put on a ventilator because he was not able to breath like this on his own for long. We agreed. Shortly after, they placed the vent he crashed with septic shock. His blood pressure dropped to 40/20 and he was on the brink of death. They were able to get him back but in a worse state. The next two days were filled with the worst nightmare we could imagine. His IV's kept infiltrating so they had to put in new A-lines, central lines and eventually a femoral line. The sepsis took over and he went into metabolic acidosis. All the medications they tried didn't help and just prolonged the inevitable. He became hypoxic and his hands, feet, nose and ears turned black from the lack of oxygen. His kidneys failed and he was put on dialysis. His body kept failing and it was unbearable to see - if he did regain consciousness, he would never be whole. We never got to truly say goodbye to him because he never regained consciousness.

After the ICU team exhausted absolutely everything, we realized we were never getting him back. They maxed out medications and were not able to give anything else. The doctors let us know there was nothing else they could do. My Mom was faced with the unbearable decision as to whether to keep pushing temporary medications and prolong the inevitable or to make him comfortable and pass. There was no choice except to make him comfortable. At 4:45 PM on 2/4/24, we were forced to say goodbye to Kevin - beloved husband, father and granddad.

Wrongful Death:

There is an internal investigation happening at the hospital because this was a wrongful death due to medical negligence. We found out he started vomiting at 10:30 PM and continued all night. The nurse increased his feeds and there is no record on his chart that she checked to make sure he was tolerating it as they are supposed to do before increasing it.

The vomiting caused him to aspirate until his lungs were full and he crashed at 3:30 AM. The GI, Transplant and ICU doctors were not notified until that morning - they should have been notified right away. We were not notified until 5:30 AM - we should have been notified the earliest at 3:30 when he crashed. The nurse that was watching him (and possibly the on-call doctor) failed to get him help until it was too late. We later found out she didn't even work at the hospital, was outsourced and not credentialed to take care of transplant patients. Due to the immunosuppressants from the heart transplant, his body could not fight this. He was in septic shock and his body was failing. They failed us and took Kevin from us too early.

We are pursuing legal action to investigate further - my Dad should be here right now, healing from the transplant, working towards those plans they were making and continuing to grow older with my Mom. We are left with broken hearts and deep feelings of injustice, helplessness and remorse. While pursuing this won't bring him back, we are hoping it will tighten policies, ensure trained staff are appointed to transplant patients and prevent more wrongful deaths in the future.

How you can help:

I am hoping to raise funds to help my Mom. She has the burden of the heart transplant bills, hospitalization bills, his funeral service and legal cost for us to pursue action in addition to the most unbearable - trying to live her life without the love of hers. 45 1/2 years married to Kevin and it was cut too short. Our hearts are broken.

I am asking that anyone who can donate anything, please do to help make sure she will not be left with nothing after this. We sincerely appreciate it and my Dad would be happy to know she is taken care of by his loved ones, friends and family.