Dad overcomes COVID-19, makes it to youngest daughter’s graduation
INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – If you ask 50-year-old Shad Schultz how what’s going through his mind as he celebrates this Father’s Day, he’ll sum it up this way: “It’s happiness,” he said. “It’s gratefulness. It’s thankfulness.”
He remembers a different feeling on Easter Sunday. That was the day he found out, what he thought was bronchitis, was COVID-19. “I was in a pretty bad spot for a little while,” Schultz said. “I was in the hospital for 39 days total. The most difficult part about that is 25 of it was actually in isolation.”
Not long after he checked into Community Hospital North, he was put on a ventilator, but doctors would later find out that treatment was unsuccessful.
“Just being on the ventilator we could not provide enough oxygen to his body,” Community Health Network cardiologist, Sandeep Dube, said.
They decided to transfer his treatment to Community Heart and Vascular Hospital so he could try Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO). It’s a machine that completely supports the heart and lungs while giving the rest of your body a chance to recover. “Rest is so important,” Dube said. “If you give rest to the body organs then the body has the capacity to heal itself.”
ECMO was the last resort in saving Schultz’s life. His wife, Stacy, was worried about the journey ahead. “Talking to the nurses in the morning and hearing one thing and then afternoon it would be something else,” she remembered.
Shad said there were a lot of tough days, but forming a close bond with the hospital staff made some of those days a little easier.
“They became kind of a pseudo family,” Shad said. “They didn’t just do a job. They, they really cared.”
After 12 days, he was able to get off the ECMO machine and start breathing on his own. On May 13, he was released from the hospital just in time to attend his youngest daughter’s graduation. Members of the medical team used words like “miracle” when talking about his recovery. Once he was reunited with all three of his kids and his wife of more than 25 years, he wanted those hearing about his story to know about his faith.
“You know, just by the grace of God I’m here,” he said. “I think that’s probably the most impactful part of it all.”