Findlay COVID patient receives lung transplant

Kodie Edler intended to get vaccinated against COVID-19. He hadn't gotten around to it yet, but planned to get his shot after returning home from a vacation. But Kodie got sick while on the trip. The 28-year-old has now been in the hospital for nearly two months, and received a lung transplant on Sept. 2. Brian Edler, Kodie's father, said his son tested positive for the virus on July 10 and was hospitalized in Findlay on July 13. However, doctors determined Kodie needed extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or ECMO, which meant he had to be transferred to Ohio State University in Columbus. Brian said Kodie went from testing positive to being severely ill to the extent that he needed a lung transplant within weeks. "It just got worse and worse and worse, really fast," Brian said. The last thing Kodie said to his mother, as he was "struggling to breathe" when she took him to the hospital, was that he wished he would have gotten the shot. Brian said Kodie had planned to get vaccinated, but "life got in the way." Unknowns This week, Brian said, Kodie is again communicating with his family, but using sign language, as he is still intubated. And Kodie started physical therapy. This week, therapists had him sit up and sit on the side of his bed, for the first time in weeks. He is heading in the right direction now, but there is "a long, long, long road ahead," Brian said of his son. He noted that Kodie has no other health issues and hadn't been on any medications prior to this. Family members have been moving from one hotel or Airbnb to another in the Columbus area while supporting Kodie. Brian said they recently found a place that they can stay in for about two weeks, at which point they'll need to move again. (Kodie is married with no children, and has two younger siblings.) Brian noted that, from now on, his son's life will be "totally different than it was before." Kodie will be required to be within 30 minutes of the hospital until he's released to drive. This could be in 90 days, or in six months. "He'll be taking 30 to 50 pills a day" to ward off rejection, Brian said. He can't have a cat or a guinea pig because of the risk of infection, and anywhere he lives will need to be tested for mold. "No more gardening," Brian said. "No more working in the mulch." The financial toll also isn't clear. Kodie has health insurance, which did approve the surgery. But, Brian said, it isn't clear what the long-term costs of things like anti-rejection drugs will be, or if he will hit his lifetime maximum on his insurance policy. "We just don't know," he said. Brian has been sharing their family's story in a series of public Facebook posts to raise awareness. Brian, who is on the Hancock County Board of Health, said vaccines "are not perfect," but we know that vaccinated people who do get COVID-19 tend to have far less severe symptoms. He said if Kodie had been vaccinated, there is "no way" he would have had as bad a course as he did. Brian said that despite "this amount of pain that he's going through," and the family feeling "helpless," one good thing has come out of the ordeal. Since he's been sharing it on Facebook, Brian has received hundreds of comments and shares. And he has heard about many people getting vaccinated because of Kodie's story. Brian said the situation has been politicized, but all he can do is tell his family's story. "I mean, talk to the people at the hospital" who are seeing young people with COVID-19 who are very sick, he said. Brian said Blanchard Valley Hospital staff did "an amazing job" caring for Kodie. So did staff at OSU, who he called "the dream team" — everyone from surgeons to the people cleaning the floors. But "I've seen some war-torn and haggard people. … They're tired," he said of the many medical workers he's encountered. Brian said family often have had to wait many hours to get information, but the bigger stress emotionally as well as physically is on Kodie himself. People may not realize the isolation that's involved in being hospitalized for COVID-19, Brian said. "There's just the whole loneliness to it from the patient's standpoint," he said. It used to be that family would sit by the bedside, but "COVID has changed the rules," Brian said. 'So many cases like Kodie' Brian said it's easy for young adults to think they are "bulletproof." After all, Kodie's brother had COVID-19 around Thanksgiving, and was sick for a few days but then was OK. Kodie's wife also tested positive for the virus around the time he did, but was only sick for several days, Brian said. But "there are so many cases like Kodie right now," Brian said. Brian said the family doesn't know anything yet about the donor whose lungs are now in his son's body. But he offers "a big thank you" to people who choose to be organ donors. "Somebody else is not here," and that has led to Kodie having a second chance, he said. Brian called organ donation "a pretty powerful choice … and it helps a lot of people." Brian urged people to get vaccinated. "Not making the decision is still making a decision," he said. He wrote on Facebook: "People worry about side effects near term and short term. I am telling you that is never on the mind of a person begging to be intubated to try and get a good breath. The potential side effect are very minimal compared to getting COVID… Remember, Kodie went from feeling bad to testing positive to needing a lung transplant in 14 days." And, he further urged people on Facebook: "Don't be like Kodie. Don't let your potential last spoken words be 'Sorry Mom, I wish I would have taken the shot.' Doctors have told us of so many begging for the vaccine or apologizing for not taking the vaccine before intubation….Speak to your doctor. Speak to some ICU people or respiratory therapists that deal with these cases. The decision you make could change your life. "I seriously hope none of you or anyone in your families ever have to go through what Kodie has gone through," he wrote. Arthurs: 419-427-8494