David Flynn was living the life of a healthy, active 51-year-old man before he started developingCOVID-19 symptomsin early July.
Now, the Pensacola father of four and grandfather of sixis fighting for his life at West Florida Hospital after testing positive for the coronavirus last week.
He isrelying on convalescent plasma for treatment, and his family hopes that by sharing his story, they can raise awareness both about the importance of coronavirus survivors donating plasma and about the seriousness of the illness.
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Flynn's four adult sons have called their father at the hospital around the clockto stay updated on his condition. They said they've been blindsided by the suddenly declining health of their dad, who they refer to as the family "rock."
"He's very active, and that's kind of why it's a real shock to all of us," said Taylor Flynn, the second oldest of David's four boys. "He eats right and then he kind of gets hit with this out of nowhere. And I'll be honest with you, all this COVID stuff, I was a skeptic of it from the beginning — until it hit home. I thought it was being overplayed, I thought it was dramatized, but this is serious. It's a wake-up call, for sure."
The worrisome situation for the Flynn family is being compounded by the fact that they can't visit their dad, who has been hospitalized since Thursday.
"Some days we're getting good reports, some days they're not so good," Taylor Flynn said. "So it's kind of been a roller coaster not knowing what's going on 100%."
OneBlood reports surge in the need for convalescent plasma
Antibodies present in convalescent plasma are the proteins that doctors across the country are experimentally using to treat COVID-19 patients.OneBlood has seen a tremendous surge in the need for convalescent plasma with a recentincrease of over 500% in hospital orders.
People who have recovered from the virus are eligible to donate their plasma every 28 days. OneBlood, a nonprofitblood donation center based in the southeastern U.S. withlocations across Florida, is urging as many people as possible to donate as much as possible.
"We need them to make it a habit of coming back every 28 days," saidSusan Forbes, OneBlood senior vice president of marketing and communications."It's vital that they return because there is no end in sight of the need for this. This entails very specific donors for very specific patients."
David Flynn is in need of A positive convalescent plasma, according to his family. They said he has already gotten four plasma donations to this point. He received one round of convalescent plasma treatment last weekend and his sons aren't sure when the next round will happen.
"We're hoping the plasma will help him, it seems to be working wonders in people," said Blaine Flynn, David's oldest son and the owner of Flynn Built Homes, a custom home builder in Pensacola. "All the doctors that you talk to, and nurses, everyone is still kind of confused on the correct treatment protocol with this being such a new virus."
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Blaine Flynn, who is also the presidentof the Home Builder's Association of West Florida, said Tuesday that he's not sure how his dad contracted the virus. But like his brother Taylor, the eldest Flynn sonno longer doubts COVID-19's severity.
"It's been very, very difficult," he said. "I'd say I have a pretty big leadership role in the city, a lot of contacts, and I think people need to start taking this thing very seriously if they're not already. Early on I thought, with Northwest Florida being more rural than, say, a Miami-Dade County, that we were kind of insulated from it. But that's not the case at all. ... Everyone needs to stop playing around."
It's imperative, Forbes said, that health care professionals apply convalescent plasma therapy asearly in the treatment process as possible to produce the most effective results.
"What we're being told is that the sooner they can provide these antibodies into a patient, the better off it is," Forbes said. "They don't want to wait until a person ends up on a ventilator to needconvalescent plasma."
David Flynnhas been fortunate enough not to require a ventilator, his sons said. While they've been baffledin the last week at how sick their father has gotten despite having no underlying health issues, they said they'realso grateful for hisclean bill of health prior to contracting the diseasebecause they recognize his predicament could be worse.
Blaine Flynn said his dad told him this week that he shuddered to think how sick he would be if he were 10 or 20 years older.
"He doesn't see how elderly people even make it through this at all," he said. "If my dad had a compromised immune system or underlying condition, I don't know what things would look like. To see a perfectly healthy person fighting this? I just want to get it out there, man, please don't let it take one of your family members getting this virus to wake you up."
OneBlood has distributed thousands of units ofconvalescent plasma since April and will continue to distribute it for the foreseeable future, Forbes said Monday.
OneBlood urges those who have recovered from the virusto visit Oneblood.org to find out if they are eligible to donate. The process starts by providing documentation of a confirmed positive or an antibody test through a two-part, pre-registration form.Potential donors must be symptom-free for 14 days prior donating.
"We're collecting seven days a week from morning until night," Forbes said. "Our team behind the scenes are processing testing and distributing convalescent plasma around the clock. It's a 24-hour process. It does not stop."
The compatibility chart for plasma does differ from the red blood cell compatibility chart.Donations can be made on an appointment-basis only. Call 888-936-6283 or visit OneBlood's website to schedule an appointment.
For David Flynn specifically, the family said his COVID plasma Expanded Access Protocol (EAP)patient code is 139858. The patient code number must be given to OneBlood upon calling the aforementioned phone number.
Jake Newby can be reached at jnewby@pnj.com or 850-435-8538.
