PHOENIX — A Stillwater, Oklahoma fire fighter took all of the precautions to protect himself from COVID-19. He wore a mask while continuing to work on the front lines battling fires and protecting his community. But last October, he began struggling to breathe.
“It happened rather quickly, I didn’t really have any signs of symptoms, and then one night I just got to where I couldn’t breathe, they sent me to the emergency room immediately,” said Blake.
He was diagnosed with COVID-19 and was admitted into the Oklahoma Heart Institute, where his condition quickly diminished.
“I was on ECMO for five weeks, and a ventilator for seven weeks,” said Blake. His wife Jennifer and their four kids feared for his life.
"There were times where we didn’t know if he was going to make it through the day,” said Jennifer.
Although Blake was able to improve and come off of ECMO in December, the virus caused irreversible lung damage, causing him to need a double lung transplant to survive.
“One day, one of my physicians, Dr. Ghuloom at Oklahoma Heart said he thought I’d be a good candidate for a double lung transplant and that he’d call someone he knew in Arizona,” recalls Blake.
His doctor reached out to experts at St. Joseph’s Norton Thoracic Institute (SJNTI) in Phoenix.
“He’s the guy who is supposed to rescue you and me off the mountain and now he can’t walk because he can’t breathe,” said SJNTI Cardiothoracic surgeon Dr. Samad Hashimi.
Dr. Hashimi was one of Blakes surgeons and says the humble first responder is on his way to a full recovery.
Blake and his wife are grateful for the team that’s given him a second chance and the person whose lungs now allow him to breathe again.
“To honor the donator of these lungs, I think, in a year they will tell me who it is, so I can get in contact with them,” said Blake.
Blake has about three months remaining in Phoenix before he and his wife can safely return home to Oklahoma.
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