Hannah Blumka

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On December 8th Hannah tested positive for Covid 19. She was miserably sick and we treated her fever and other symptoms  just like any other flu like illness.  As the week went on she progressively got worse. Tuesday, December 14th she had an extremely bad night.  Her breathing was shallow and she couldn’t get comfortable. Wednesday morning I took her the ER in Niles, Mi. Her oxygen levels were very low and her lung X-ray showed that she was very ill.  Within a couple of hours she was transported to Beacon Childrens Pediatric ICU and put on a Bipap machine to assist her breathing allow with many medications for blood clots, steroids for healing and sedation for rest. Although the amazing team at Beacon was doing everything they could she wasn’t getting any better. Saturday the 18th the decision was made to place Hannah is a medically sedated state and put in a breathing tube. The hope was she would be able to rest and let her lungs heal.
Much later that evening the doctor approached me and told me he wanted Hannah to be taken to Helen Devos Childrens Hospital in Grand Rapids.  This hospital had the capability to put Hannah on a machine that would be the next step if necessary and not something that was available in South Bend.
Around 3am Monday morning Hannah was put on a helicopter and flown to Helen Devos.  Again we were surrounded by an amazing healthcare staff and everyone went to work on Hannah.  The reason we moved her at this time was because she was in a stable state and we did not want to have to make those choices in an emergency.  Doctors and surgeons came to me at all angles and let me know what was being done and what could be done.  On Tuesday afternoon our pediatric ICU doctor told me it was time to place Hannah on a machine called Ecmo.  Ecmo is a machine that essentially serves as her lungs so that hers do not have to work so hard and they can heal. It is a procedure that can take 4 or more weeks.  
Hannah has a very long road ahead of her. She is still in a heavily sedated state and after being off ecmo and having the breathing tube removed she will have several weeks of rehab.


Please pray for her, our family and the medical staff caring for her daily. I am currently looking for long term housing so that I can be here for her everyday.  My son is being well taken care of by family ( he is also recovering from Covid and was just released from the hospital)