BRUNSWICK, Ga. — Tim Corey is praying help can be found for his dear friend Terry Spivey, 57, who is on a ventilator at a Brunswick hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19 in mid-December.
"It can't get much more dire," Pastor Tim Corey said.
Prior to getting the coronavirus Corey said Spivey was the picture of health.
"He has no underlying health conditions and actually rides his bike through our neighborhood pretty much every day. He has four kids, nine grandkids with one on the way," Corey said. "He is honestly one of the most generous people I have ever met in my entire life."
Spivey's health took a turn for the worse Christmas Day. He was admitted to Southeast Georgia Health System - Brunswick Campus.
"They told the family yesterday that there was nothing else that they could do for him there, that the best thing they could do was transport him to a hospital that had an ECMO machine," Corey explained. "The problem is right now, most hospitals in the area that have them are full."
The ECMO machine is a life support machine that can replace the function of the heart and lungs.
"Without this, he will probably not walk out of the hospital," Corey said.
Spivey's story was posted on the Prayers for Terry Spivey Facebook page. The post has been shared more than 2,000 times.
"People have been texting, calling, sending messages from all over the Southeast into the Midwest, trying to figure out where he's at, so they can try to see if they have connections somewhere they can get him in," Corey said. "The hospital has reached out to some other hospitals trying to get help for him. The family is reaching out trying to get help, but we're running into a situation where either people aren't getting back to the hospital, or they're not getting back to the family, or there's just nothing available anybody's finding."
Corey is not giving up and hopes by sharing Spivey's story someone who can help will see it.
"One of the big things right now is the hospital they're currently at is not part of their insurance network, so there's going to be a huge financial burden there for them," Corey said. "If people want to make donations to the family, they can let us know, and we can we can point you in the right direction to make that happen."
He feels compelled to help Spivey because he said Spivey would do the same thing for him.
"When you read in scripture where Jesus tells his followers he says, by this people will know that you're my disciples, by the way that you love each other. Terry is the embodiment of that."
Southeast Georgia Health System was not able to share specific information on Spivey due to patient confidentiality laws.
"Our hospital, like more than 95% of hospitals in the country, does not have ECMO machines," Michael D. Scherneck, President & CEO of Southeast Georgia Health System, said. " ECMO generally is only available at open heart surgery and transplant centers and is not a widely available treatment for COVID-19. Where the clinical team determines that ECMO may benefit a patient, a patient must be stable for transfer and have a facility that both has the capacity to accept the patient and believes ECMO may be an effective treatment for the patient."