After about a week of cold symptoms like cough, sore throat, and fever, Zach woke up on Monday with severe shortness of breath and other concerning symptoms. He appeared very ill and drained of energy, so it was 3:00 pm before he was able to leave the house and go to a walk-in clinic with Megan. Once Zach was seen, the doctor made it clear that he was very sick and needed immediate help.
Megan drove Zach to the Concordia Urgent Care around 5:00 pm, where he was seen immediately due to the severity of his situation. He was surrounded by respiratory therapists (RTs), the charge nurse, a physician, a doctor, and three other nurses who tried to stabilize him and provide sufficient oxygen. His oxygen levels were very low, so he had to be put on a more intense machine with 100% oxygen flow. While at Concordia, the doctors determined that he had severe pneumonia, which had gone unnoticed for some time because of his exceptional baseline health.
The team at Concordia determined that they needed to transport him to either the emergency room or ICU at HSC so that he could receive sufficient care. While they were preparing him for transport, in which they needed to sedate and intubate him, Zach went into cardiac arrest. His heart stopped for about three minutes while medical personnel performed CPR on him until he was resuscitated. At this time, Megan’s sister Melannie, her father James, and Rev. Joe Poppe came to support Megan and pray together.
Around 11:00 pm, Zach was ready to be transported to the Medical Intensive Care Unit (MICU) in HSC. Megan, Melannie, Rev. Poppe, and Megan’s parents followed the ambulance to the hospital, but did not receive any updates and could not see Zach for four hours.
Zach’s mother Alice was in Calgary when she received news of Zach’s worsening condition. She decided to go to the airport despite there being no available flights. Miraculously, the last flight to Winnipeg was delayed on the tarmac for 2 hours. Helpful staff held the plane for her and it departed once she got on board. She arrived in Winnipeg around 2:00 am and came to HSC just as the doctor came to tell us that Zach was very unstable and give us a brief update.
Please pray fervently for his well-being, that God would be merciful to him and spare his life.
Please also pray for Ed and Alice, as well as Megan and her parents as they wait for further developments.
“For God alone, O my soul, wait in silence, for my hope is from him. He only is my rock and my salvation, my fortress; I shall not be shaken. On God rests my salvation and my glory; my might rock, my refuge is God.” (Psalm 62:5-7)
