Sara Finefrock is remembering her father, George Finefrock, who died after contracting COVID-19.
Sarah told Buzzfeed News something was initially wrong when her father got into a car accident on October 20.
"He called from the hospital and said, 'The weirdest thing has happened; I got in a car accident. I blacked out and hit two cars,'” she told the outlet.
While no one was hurt, George remained confused as to what led to the crash.
"He said, 'I don’t understand what happened; I don’t know why I would have done that,'" she explained.
A few days later, he collapsed in his home in Boise, Idaho, but thankfully managed to crawl to the phone and call for help.
He tested positive for COVID-19 at the hospital.
George, who had prediabetes and recently underwent a quadruple bypass, was in the high-risk category, so he made sure to take extra precautions. His family has no idea how he contracted the virus.
And yet despite being at risk, his recent medical encounters, and the intense symptoms that Sarah described as “the worst flu,” George was sent home from the hospital to recover.
Despite the families multiple attempts to get him admitted, they kept being told he did not meet the criteria.
On November 2, when Sarah got a call from her father that his health was deteriorating, she called the emergency line and was finally able to get him the necessary help.
"He couldn’t breathe, and all I could hear was his labored breathing in the background," she explained.
Sarah told the outlet she was in constant communication with her father even when he wasn’t able to say more than “yes” or “no.”
"He was having difficulty speaking because of the speaking issues, but it meant the world to him," his wife, Moira, who lives in Hawaii, said.
A few days later, George was intubated and sedated as his health deteriorated again.
Sarah received a call from the doctor on November 12 that it was time to say goodbye.
George passed away on Friday the 13, which Sarah said her father would have found hilarious.
She was there as they turned off the ventilator and shared stories about her father with the nurses.
"It was just so humane," she said, adding that she was grateful to be by his side when so many families were not given the luxury.
She remembers her father as a storyteller and jokester, which she says her 6-year-old son has picked up on.
"He would laugh at his own jokes, which we thought was really funny," Sarah said. "He would tell a joke and he could barely get through it."
The family held a virtual celebration of life on December 3 instead of a funeral.
She hopes her father’s story helps put “a face on this disease” and shows that he isn’t just a statistic.
"Nobody deserves to have lived the experience that he did," she said.
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