X

The first indication Kimberly and Kassidy Kern had that their mother Jeanne Gang might be in trouble was her call from a dying cell phone reporting that she had COVID-19 and was about to be intubated.

The former Jeanne Dial, a longtime Kingfisher area performance horse trainer who served for a time as Kingfisher librarian, now lives near Henryetta with her current husband, Donnie Gang.

The couple continues to train horses and Jeanne Gang also operates a successful real estate company that specializes in rural acreages, ranches and farms.

Among her many friends and associates, including a strong following on social media, the 69-year-old Gang is known for her positive, can-do attitude and Wyoming born-and-bred self-sufficiency.

With their mother as role model, sisters Kimberly Kern of Marlow and Kassidy Kern of Bend, Ore., grew up believing that with enough grit, determination and hard work, no problem was insurmountable.

Until that July 27 phone call.

“Mother and Donnie had tested positive a week prior, but had kept their status quiet,” Kimberly said. “Mother called from a dying cell phone and didn’t tell Kassidy where she was, so we began a frantic search to find her.”

Gang had started feeling sick around July 16 with congestion and an overwhelming fatigue, the sisters later learned.

She and her husband tested positive July 20, with what was identified as the highly-contagious Delta variant.

When both their conditions continued to decline, the Gangs were admitted to the Okmulgee hospital on July 26, where both were placed on oxygen.

While Donnie improved almost immediately, Jeanne’s condition deteriorated to the point where she needed to be put on a ventilator and she was moved to the ER to await an ICU bed.

The Search Begins

After her cell phone died, the Kern sisters first had to locate their mother.

They were aided by another former Kingfisher resident, nurse practitioner Tenessa Pinkerton, whose father Tom Jones, a fellow horseman, is Gang’s longtime friend.

“She quickly found our mother and began pushing for an immediate transfer (to an ICU bed),” Kimberly said.

“The doctors told us there were no ICU beds available, but they would start looking in earnest – this meant any available bed in a four-state radius (Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas and Missouri),” Kassidy said.

“Tenessa was trying to help us find a bed through her contacts, but by the time the Okmulgee ER would call to confirm a bed, the bed would be gone.

“Or we’d get the bed and then while lining up the logistics of moving her (via ground or air) they would give the bed to someone else.

“At one point we thought she’d be in Fort Smith, Ark., and the next minute there was a possibility she’d be in Denver.

“It was maddening.”

Kimberly, a radiologic technician, was keenly aware of the level of care her mother required versus what was immediately available.

“While both ER and ICU are critical care, one is a stabilize-and-move care and the other is a more one-on-one nursing experience.

“An ER nurse does not have the capacity due to the nature of emergency room traffic to give the appropriate care that an intubated COVID patient needs.

“Still, those nurses sustained her life. I’m very thankful for them.”

Finally on July 30, the family received word that an ICU bed was available in a Tahlequah hospital operated by the Cherokee Nation. She was flown from Okmulgee to Tahlequah and admitted that same day.

Days of Touch-and-Go

Although Gang now had the critical care most likely to save her life, her condition was very serious.

Her treating physician at Okmulgee described Gang in a phone call to daughter Kassidy as the sickest patient at the hospital.

Even compared to typical COVID patients sick enough to require ventilation, her lung function was extremely poor and her kidney function also was concerning.

On her first full day in the ICU, doctors told the Kern sisters that they were “throwing everything at her and the kitchen sink” in terms of treatment options and only were able to reduce her dependence on the ventilator from 100 to 80%.

That’s when Gang’s daughters thought about her mother’s mantra to riding students under her tutelage:

Even if you just shoot to improve your performance by 1% each day, in 100 days you will be 100% better.

That’s the message the sisters repeated in their mother’s ear in every oneway phone conversation and it’s also the prayer request they passed on to friends and supporters.

Not Their First Rodeo

As stressful as the experience is to watch their mother’s battle with COVID, “this is the second time we’ve gone through this,” Kimberly said.

“Kass and I have both taken mitigation seriously and both of our parents have ended up fighting for their lives. Dad was sick in the first round last November,” she said, referring to their father Chuck Kern, 79, who lives in Wyoming.

While he never had to be ventilated, Kern went through a 24-hour period in his hospitalization “where it could have gone either way,” Kimberly said.

Their stepfather Donnie, though out of the hospital, is not entirely out of the woods and faces some lingering complications due to the disease.

Opportunity to Inform

In the scariest early days of their mother’s ordeal, the Kern sisters were approached by an Oklahoma City TV station to do an interview.

“I wanted to do it to convey how critical mother is and how stressful and heartbreaking it is for everyone who loves her,” Kimberly said.

Once hospitalized, both their mother and stepfather expressed regret that they had not been vaccinated, as well as a determination to do so as soon as they are able.

Based on their mother’s experience, their father Chuck also has decided to get the vaccination.

“If I can persuade anyone else to get it, it will be worth it,” Kimberly said.

“Oklahoma is suffering heavily from COVID fatigue – mostly due to disinformation and misinformation, in my opinion,” she added. “Look at our numbers; how is this unmanaged spread not a public health hazard?”

“To me, this isn’t about the government and it isn’t about the CDC. It’s about friends and neighbors. It’s about your grandma and my son,” Kassidy said.

“The Delta variant is as contagious as chicken pox. When you get it as a young person, you can easily pass it on to someone my mom’s age in your church, or to grandparents at a football game and these consequences can be deadly.”

Still, both Kern sisters say they also understand that the decision to vaccinate has to remain a personal choice.

Even in the midst of their mother’s ordeal, they’ve engaged in and encouraged thoughtful discussions on social media about the current viral trends and arguments for and against vaccination.

“The thing I know for sure is that as a Christian, I am compelled to be loving and to be of service. I am compelled to be kind,” Kassidy said.

“On my best day, I can meet you where you are and try to help you understand where I am with my decision making.

And at our best, we can have a good conversation about that without feeling the need to belittle or coerce each other.”

“Kassidy is way better at this than I am, and I’ve learned a lot from her in how to approach these types of conversations,” Kimberly said. “I feel if we take the time to talk to one another, listen, and be heard that we can find points of understanding. We just have to be open.”

Kimberly said she hopes those who choose not to get the shots will take other steps to help mitigate the current wave of infection.

Hitting That 1%

Day by day, Jeanne Gang continues to show signs of improvement.

Doctors started taking baby steps to wean her from the ventilator beginning Aug. 2, reducing her sedation and artificial respiration to encourage her to take breaths on her own.

It’s a process that typically progresses in fits and starts, but her daughters have claimed at least that 1% improvement each day.

They started a Facebook page to report her daily progress and collect prayers and words of encouragement to share with their mother in their nightly phone calls.

In addition to her daughters, Gang has grandchildren Kash, Luke, Shepherd and Kyah; step-grandchildren Shawn Burr and Christian, McKenzie, Emma and Hunter Gang, and step-great-grandkids Ashton, Wyatt and Brystol Burr all pulling for her recovery.

By Saturday, she was breathing more than seven hours on her own and then on Sunday, in a common state of semi-conscious agitation as sedation wears off, she took matters into her own hands and pulled the ventilator completely out.

Fortunately, an examination revealed that her vocal cords did not suffer any damage and as of Tuesday, she was still breathing on her own, with supplemental oxygen.

She’s also regaining her ability to speak and responded with repeated “thank you’s” as one of her daughters read a new list of prayers and well-wishes from supporters.

Gang also kept repeating “two more days,” which her daughters first interpreted as Gang’s mistaken belief that she had only two more days left in the hospital.

But the nurse cleared up that misconception: Gang was counting down until the end of her 21-day quarantine, when she will be allowed her first visitor.

She also managed to make clear who she expected that visitor to be, using a phrase familiar to all her friends on and off social media.

“That handsome cowboy.”

Her husband, Donnie.

Cumulative Value of 1%

In a Facebook post late Monday night, Kimberly Kern announced that her mother was doing well enough to be moved from ICU to a critical care unit. Her daughters are grateful for the transfer, not only for the significant improvement it represents in Gang’s condition, but also because it frees a scarce ICU bed for someone else in need.

She did get that visit with her handsome cowboy on Tuesday and on Wednesday her daughters reported that she is “leapfrogging forward in her progress.”

“The doctor told Donnie she is not just improving by the day, she’s improving by the hour,” Kimberly posted. “She’s eating smoothies and sorbet although she has requested steak and eggs.”

Soon Gang will be moved to an in-house rehabilitation facility in Okmulgee that is only a 25-minute drive from the Gang home near Henryetta.

“We are absolutely amazed by her and proud of the work she’s putting in every minute to improve,” Kimberly posted online. “This is exactly the kind of progress we know she can make and she’s doing it!

“Thank you to all of the amazing doctors and nurses and thanks to all of you for your prayers. Mother is turning them into healing energy and moving mountains right now!”