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Jessica DuPreez and her nearly three-year fiancé, Micheal Freedy, wanted to give themselves a year before rolling up their sleeves for a COVID-19 vaccine. But time was not on their side.
DuPreez and Freedy had been together for over seven years and met as colleagues at the Potawatomi Hotel & Casino in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. DuPreez loved how Freedy “could always light up a room when he walked in.”
“His presence has always been so positive and so large as life,” DuPreez told USA TODAY. “It was just great to be there.”
DuPreez and Freedy thought they were cautious while waiting for their shots. DuPreez never considered herself an anti-vaxxer.
She said the novelty of the COVID-19 vaccine and the speed at which it had been produced gave her and Freedy a break.
“I believe in vaccines; I believe in this one wholeheartedly, ”said DuPreez. “We just wanted to wait a year to see what everyone’s reactions were.”
As DuPreez and Freedy postponed their vaccination, the couple continued with their travel plans.
About three weeks ago, DuPreez and Freedy, along with their five children, left their Las Vegas, Nevada home for a two-day trip to San Diego, Calif.: A little getaway from the heat of the desert. DuPreez said it was an amazing time, especially for their children.
“None of our kids had ever been to the ocean so they loved it and got to do rides at Belmont Park,” said DuPreez.
Freedy returned home with a “brutal” sunburn, purplish red in color with water blisters, and a number of symptoms: lack of appetite, restlessness, fever, dizziness and nausea. He stayed home after work for the next two days: he couldn’t eat, couldn’t sleep, and was “hot to the touch.” But DuPreez said there was little concern because they attributed these symptoms to Freedy’s sunburn because they believed he had had a case of sun poisoning.
DuPreez said Freedy went to the emergency room three days after returning from San Diego as his symptoms persisted. She said little had been done about Freedy’s condition at the time; the doctor who saw him just told him to drink Gatorade. Freedy went to work that night.
However, DuPreez said Freedy continued to feel bad and was ill for the next two days. Freedy went to another emergency department early the following week, where a different conclusion was drawn about his condition – Freedy tested positive for COVID-19.
“He panics saying he doesn’t want to die and that he doesn’t want to leave his babies without a father,” DuPreez said.
DuPreez said Freedy’s young age – he had just turned 39 days before his COVID-19 diagnosis – and relatively good health gave him some comfort at the time, which she was trying to channel into encouragement . “I promise we’ll be fine,” she told Freedy.
Freedy returned home advised by medics to stay hydrated with Pedialyte, rest, and self-isolate.
But his condition quickly worsened. He woke DuPreez around 3 a.m. the next morning, according to DuPreez’s account of Freedy’s illness on GoFundMe, telling him he couldn’t breathe or stand up straight.
DuPreez took Freedy to the emergency room for his third visit in 96 hours. His blood oxygen level was low and the hospital staff were “surprised that he was even able to walk and speak.” Freedy’s scans found pneumonia in both his lungs, DuPreez said.
It was a rapid decline that DuPreez never saw coming.
“[I didn’t] realize when I dropped him off in the emergency room because he couldn’t breathe that this would be the last time I held his hand while he was awake, ”DuPreez said. “That I wasn’t going to be able to hug him anymore, that I could never sleep next to him again.”
Although DuPreez could not see Freedy after this point, other than bringing him clothes and other items to the hospital, she said she still had hope, even though the anxiety was starting to show. settle down.
DuPreez said Freedy was moved to another hospital and then to an intermediate care unit to better meet his care needs. During one of their text conversations, Freedy expressed his regret.
“I should have been vaccinated,” Freedy wrote, according to a FOX5 report.
After five days in the intermediate care unit and a week after being diagnosed with COVID-19, DuPreez said Freedy was taken to intensive care. She said he was fully intubated and sedated within two hours of arriving.
DuPreez said a nurse told him that evening “to contact the next of kin and bring all of his belongings home.”
DuPreez got up early the day her fiance died. She said she was planning to go to work that day and had to drop off her kids at her sister’s house across town. But first she wanted to visit Freedy in the hospital.
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“I want to make sure he knows I’m here,” DuPreez said.
When she arrived at the hospital, she thought there was some good news. Freedy was in a new bed and some of his numbers had improved.
But soon his blood oxygen level dropped. DuPreez said a nurse reassured her that this was normal.
Then Freedy’s numbers “hit rock bottom” and he no longer had a detectable pulse.
A “swarm of doctors and nurses” rushed inside. DuPreez was quickly moved to the back of the room, as medics gave him chest compressions.
After 30 minutes of compressions, DuPreez said that one of the doctors came to see her and told her they had to stop – “we did all we could.”
Brant Graves, one of Freedy’s best friends, normally works late and sleeps during the day. That day, he woke up “with a million text messages and missed phone calls”, all sharing a tone of sadness: “Oh, that’s so sad” and “Oh, I’m so sorry”.
Graves initially said he couldn’t believe the news of Freedy’s passing.
“It was just really hard to realize that one of my best friends had just passed away, and I will never see him again,” Graves said.
Graves is “fully versed” to deal with the harrowing realities of COVID-19. He is a licensed sleep technologist and has spent three months “working side by side with nurses every day on the front lines to care for COVID patients and see them die left and right and see all the tragedy.”
He said he didn’t know Freedy wasn’t vaccinated and that the only time they spoke about COVID-19 was in work with pandemic restrictions, like wearing face masks.
“It’s just too bad he didn’t understand it [the vaccine]”said Graves.
DuPreez said she and her eldest child were vaccinated the same day Freedy tested positive for COVID-19.
Looking back on his own experience, DuPreez said that people who are hesitant about vaccines should overcome their skepticism and get vaccinated.
“Even if your shoulder hurts or if you get a little sick, I’d be a little sick because he’s not around at this point,” DuPreez said.
“I just wanna beg everyone to get it [the vaccine] if they can, ”Graves said. “If they thought about getting it, get it. “
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Unvaccinated Las Vegas Man Dies Regretting He Was Not Vaccinated: Fiancé
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