"I said, 'I'll see you on the other side,'" Tommy Shapard says about that night in ICU when he found out he was so sick with COVID-19; he would be put on a ventilator.
He had only about one hour to make "goodbye videos" for his friends and family, he said.
Shapard is the Minister of Music and Worship at Hendricks Avenue Baptist Church and Director of Choral Music and Vocal Activities at FSCJ. He just celebrated his 46th birthday at home with his wife and three children feeling blessed to be alive.
Shapard is planning to see if he qualifies for the new convalescent plasma donor program at Baptist Health.
Dr. Ed Gorak, DO, the head of cancer medicine for Baptist/MD Anderson and the program's principal investigator, says it's not known yet if plasma is effective at saving very ill COVID-19 patients on a widespread scale, but the early data is full of hope.
The plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients may contain the antibodies to help current patients who are in ICU -- and probably on ventilators -- fight off the virus.
"The data involving plasma with other agents is showing it can have a double effect to help patients," Gorak says.
"It would be amazing to know what I donated helped somebody get off the ventilator or go home to their families or live," Shapard says.
Gorak says his team has identified about 30 recovered COVID-19 patients from the Baptist system who could be potential donors. Baptist is reaching out to them.
To find out if you qualify, you can call 352-224-1770, the number to LifeSouth, the community blood center working with this donor project.
The donations are free for donors. There is a list of certain qualifications you must follow to be eligible.