A Pennsylvania man’s desperate appeal to find an ICU to take his severely ill, COVID-19-stricken mother has gone viral. Shawn Rider’s mom Karen contracted the coronavirus in mid-November.
She was admitted to Hanover Hospital, about two hours west of Philadelphia, and had been on a ventilator since Nov. 23, her son wrote on social media.
But as her condition worsened, Karen needed an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine — a device Hanover Hospital didn’t have. “We can’t make any promises that a hospital is available to take her to try ECMO,” a doctor told Rider.
Since the recent tide of COVID-19 rates spiking, ICU beds in Pennsylvania have been at capacity. In a series of heartbreaking messages on his Facebook page, Rider.