A father of 12 Reed Hickson has died of coronavirus complications on Monday 20th of September 2021.
He died one day after his wife issued a desperate plea on Facebook for a hospital bed with special ECMO capabilities.
Before Hickson died on Monday, his family scrambled to find extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine, which provides a type of life support and would have allowed for a last-resort procedure that “was his only chance to stay alive,” according to Gina.
“We are running out of time and options,” Gina Robnett Hickson’s wife wrote.
The couples were married for 29 years.
Machines are scarce, as they require specially trained teams of medical workers to operate. Hickson tested positive for the virus last month; within 20 days, he had made multiple overnight trips to the hospital and was admitted to the ICU twice.
“He stayed stable for a couple of days and then he was starting to steadily decline,” his wife told a local outlet. It’s unclear if Hickson was vaccinated.