SHAWNEE, Kan. — For Claire and Grace Green, the pandemic interrupted their lives in a number of ways. Grace missed prom and the end of her senior year. Her younger sister Claire missed the end of her club volleyball season.
But, the impact this virus would have on the Shawnee family of four would be far more devastating than that, starting when, Claire then Grace, fell ill.
"It was kind of just like a cold for me, but my voice was really hoarse, and my throat was pretty dry." Claire said.
"I've never really been sick like that before, I was just so tired, and then just like a migraine the whole week," Grace said.
At the time, in mid-March, Coronavirus cases weren’t prevalent in Johnson County. The family says the girls’ doctors dismissed it as a run-of-the-mill viral infection, although antibody tests would later confirm they did indeed have COVID-19.
Claire was in bed for a few days. For Grace, it lasted a week.
Then it hit their parents.
"Soon after they got better, I started having symptoms of just acheyness, just very very achey. Like, to the point you feel like you just got hit with a baseball bat all over your back," Katy Green said.
Katy's husband, Jason Green, was also complaining of extreme fatigue, along with a fever and cough. As their conditions got worse, they eventually realized they both needed to be seen.
Together, they drove to the emergency room at AdventHealth Shawnee Mission. But when it was time to leave, Katy left alone.
"They came in and told me, 'Well, your husband's x-rays definitely look like COVID-19. We'll be testing him, he'll be staying. And you don't look quite as bad in your x-rays, but you definitely have the same things going on with your lungs," Katy Green said.
And with that, Katy was dismissed, leaving without even getting to tell Jason goodbye because of hospital protocols.
"But I still thought, 'This is America, they'll fix him! He'll be right back, and it will be okay!" she said.
Sadly, it wasn't.
She was sent home presumed positive to quarantine. Two days later, Jason, who'd continued to rapidly go downhill was put on a ventilator.
While he was fighting for his life, Katy got worse at home, forcing her to return to the hospital. Meanwhile, the girls had to be left home alone, for fear of infecting anyone else who might otherwise come stay with them.
"It it was awful to have them drop me off. And I'm sure in their minds, they were worried, 'What if Mom goes on a ventilator now?'" Katy said.
This time she was tested for COVID-19, which confirmed her suspicions. She also learned she was battling the flu, on top of it.
She would stay in the same hospital as her husband, on a different floor, for three days.
"At that time everything was so uncertain. We didn't know if my dad would be able to get off the ventilator, we didn't know how bad my mom was at that time," Claire said.
Thankfully, Katy recovered enough to come home. But when she did, she received the call she'd been dreading.
"I think it would be a good idea for you to come in and talk about end of life and say your goodbyes," she recalls hospital staff told her.
But, the family wasn't done fighting, and neither was Jason.
Amazingly, after 18 days on a ventilator and being in a medically induced coma, he pulled through.
"We just had a large group of people that were sending prayers our way and positive thoughts and I really think that made a difference. And I think I had a strong desire to continue being a part of my family's life," Jason Green said.
Looking back on his battle, there was much Jason didn't remember. Besides the physical toll it took on his body, he recalls the moments that left emotional scars, including his last memory before going on the ventilator.
"I called home, and I basically talked to my wife and told her goodbye and I talked to my kids and told them goodbye," Jason said.
Unfortunately, even when he was in a medically-induced coma, he experienced what's known as ICU delirium, which he describes as being stuck in a constant nightmare state, experiencing hallucinations.
"In my mind, I had been kidnapped, and I was being kept away from my family," he said.
He says some of what he was dreaming was based on the treatment he was receiving that his brain was unable to make sense of at the time.
"One part of that experience, I was dreaming I was in a wheelchair and I couldn't move. But I was also given paralytics medication so I would not move in my bed, I was also tied down at times in my bed," Jason said.
Once he regained consciousness, the nightmares started to fade. But his road to recovery was just beginning.
He stayed in the hospital for almost a month before he and his family were treated to a special sendoff to a rehabilitation facility, the first time the Greens were all reunited.
These days, life is starting to get back to normal for the family of four.
Jason has returned to work, ironically as the EMS Chief for the Overland Park Fire Department, where he'd been working on COVID-19 preparations before he got sick.
"I'm very thankful for where I'm at. My energy is getting better, slowly, I'm continuing to build strength, and I expect those things to continue," he said.
He's also quick to thank his fellow firefighters and EMS employees who pitched in while he was sick. He says members of the Overland Park Fire Department actually came and slept in the driveway at night while both parents were in the hospital and the girls were home alone.
The family would later show their support for fellow first responders and the hospital staff, visiting AdventHealth to thank the doctors and nurses who helped save their lives.
Meanwhile, they hope their story will prompt others to take this virus seriously.
"Don't forget, we have a responsibility to one another. And when you choose to live in a community and in a society, it's important that we do things and realize our actions affect the other person," Jason said.
The family says the biggest thing people can do is to wear masks to limit the spread.
As for where they think they got it? They believe their youngest daughter was infected at her last volleyball tournament.
Despite the fact they all had different symptoms, the one thing they had in common was a loss of smell and taste.
