KANSAS CITY, Mo — A Warrensburg family is using social media to share their experience with COVID-19.
Jacki Warner and her daughter recovered from the virus, while her husband, Nick Warner, still is in the hospital. Friday marks Day 34 since Nick Warner was admitted to the Intensive Care Unit at Research Medical Center with COVID-19.
He was an otherwise healthy 35-year-old man with no pre-existing conditions. Now, he lives in a coma-like state, hooked up to a ventilator and ECMO, which pumps oxygen into his blood so his organs can rest. His heart has stopped twice already, and his oxygen rates cannot stabilize on their own.
“It hit him hard, and it hit him fast,” Jacki Warner said. “Everyday you go through these times of being very excited and then just fear and panic. And you never know what to do.”
Jacki Warner said she believes the family contracted the virus after her daughter went to lunch with a friend whose mother was sick. Her 17-year-old daughter recovered in about four days after experiencing mild gastrointestinal discomfort.
For Jacki Warner, her pre-existing conditions worsened, but later stabilized. She said the hardest part has been staying strong for her daughter.
“My husband actually lost his father at this same age," Jacki Warner said. "And I just don’t want my daughter to have to go through that.”
Jacki and Nick were high school sweethearts and always attached at the hip. After giving birth to their daughter, the three of them were inseparable, traveling together recently for Nick Warner's job.
“We’ve always just… kind of stuck together,” Jacki Warner said.
Jacki Warner said she and her husband both were unvaccinated when they contracted the virus. There are a lot of things they would go back and change. Now, she uses her social media platform to educate, share her story and find support.
“The day that I got to have the conversation with my husband, when I got ready to leave, he apologized to me and said, ‘You need to tell everybody how bad it is,’” she said. “We can’t do anything to help him. But at least we can spread awareness and share – this is real and this is happening to people.”
