Hi! I am starting this on behalf of my brother, Nate.
Wednesday 7/22, Nate woke up with some chest pain. By Wednesday night he was in pretty good pain & went to the ER. Nate was admitted as his oxygen level was in the 80s on 2 liters, and his heart rate was over 200. Thursday morning, about 1:30 am, he was sent by ambulance to Abbott Northwestern were he was admitted to the ICU for respiratory failure. Unfortunately, he continued to decline and by 5pm he was intubated & put on life support. The doctors were hoping he would be stable enough to do a lung biopsy to test for infectious disease as everything else had come back negative at this point. The plan was to biopsy at 8 am Friday morning, but Nate continued to decline & was put on ECMO Friday morning and the biopsy was done around 2 pm.
Samples were sent and he tested positive for blastomycosis & medications were started Friday night to treat.
While we are very thankful to finally have a diagnoses, Nate is looking at a very long recovery. Best case scenario, he will spend 30 days in the ICU, however, he is looking at spending the next 6-12 months fighting this infection.
Nate’s kids are missing him very much & are hoping their dad will make improvements soon as they haven’t been able to see him since Thursday.
Thank you for anything you’re able to give!!
