SPOKANE, Wash. — A couple in their 80s who were diagnosed with coronavirus are isolated in their Morgan Acres home while their children and grandchildren work to take care of them.
Chuck, 88, and Shirley Ailie, 87, have been married for 63 years.
Chuck has atrial fibrillation, meaning he has an irregular heartbeat that can lead to complications like blood clots and stroke. He had a stroke three years ago. Stacey said it was cause by his atrial fibrillation. Shirley has had minor strokes over the years.
They were both diagnosed with COVID-19 earlier this week. Chuck was diagnosed after taking a spill in his home on Sunday, July 19. Shirley was diagnosed a few days later.
Their daughter, Stacey, spoke to KREM 2 about the struggles her family is facing and her message to people who continue to go out amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Stacey said her dad called her brother, who was staying with her at the time, at 3 a.m. Sunday morning after he took a spill and couldn’t get back up.
“He’s lying on the floor in the hallway and he can’t get up. They can’t get him up,” Stacey said. “So they called 911 and the paramedics show up.”
First responders found Chuck’s oxygen levels were low and his heart rate was high. They took him to Holy Family Hospital where, because of his age, they tested him for coronavirus, Stacey said.
“They called me and told me, ‘He’s COVID positive, so we’re going to admit him to the hospital,’” she said. “So, all chaos is breaking loose.”
Stacey said there was nothing they could do at that point. They weren’t allowed to visit him in the hospital. Then, she decided to take her mom in to get tested.
“We went to Providence Urgent Care and they tested both of us,” she said. “A couple days later my mom came back positive and I came back negative, so far. Since then I’ve been their primary caregiver. I’ve taken some coughs in the face even though I have masks on.”
Stacey said she wears an N95 mask and layers it with a cloth mask when she goes to their house to check in on their condition. She said currently, they’re both pretty weak. Shirley is sleeping a lot and her heart rate was up. Both are having to use a walker to get around.
Chuck isn’t taking any medications for the virus. Shirley is taking two kinds of antibiotics because she developed pneumonia. Stacey said the doctors believe they caught it early. She believes their conditions are improving.
Stacey said her dad was given his test results the same day he was tested. She and her mother got their results in two days.
Stacey is going to get tested for COVID-19 again. Now, her son is going to move in with his grandparents to help take care of them.
“We’re doing everything we can to keep him safe,” she said.
She’s bought her son face shields from Amazon to take with him to his grandparents. He’s going to take care of them while Stacey isolates herself for two weeks.
It’s not just Stacey’s parents who’ve been impacted. She said her daughter and two of her seven children have symptoms of coronavirus. Stacey said she doesn't believe they got ill from being around her father, but from another source. She said she believes they’ve been tested and are waiting on results.
Her brother and his two kids have also been tested, but their results came back negative. Her other brother, who help their dad after he fell, his wife and child have returned to Seattle where they've been tested and are awaiting their results.
While they aren’t exactly sure how Chuck and Shirley got the virus, Stacey has a theory about what could have happened.
She said her dad’s friend showed up to the house and took him to get coffee about 10 days before his diagnosis.
“When you’re raising elderly parents it’s like having teenagers,” Stacey explained. “I swear at one point he goes, ‘But Doug’s daughter is letting him go out to coffee.’”
Stacey said they were masked up. She said all the waitresses were masked and doing what they were supposed to be doing. Then, he decided to do a little grocery shopping. She said he had an encounter with a person who wasn’t wearing a mask.
“About nine days later, he started showing symptoms that we didn’t recognize were symptoms because who’s heard of a lack of appetite being a symptom of COVID. I didn’t realize it was a symptom,” Stacey said.
Stacey said she was terrified at first about her dad’s diagnosis.
“Dad being five days into it kind of cut back a bit of the terror,” she said. “Once I found out he has it, he’s in the hospital, that makes him fairly safe because they know how to handle this. They are dealing with this on a daily basis…That took a lot of the holy crap terror out of dad’s situation.”
With her mother, Stacey said the terror hit her Tuesday when they called an ambulance.
“I came home and kind of lost it,” she said.
Stacey said now the family is focusing on what needs to be done to take care of her parents.
Stacey posted about her parents on the ‘Keeping it Safe Spokane’ Facebook page, where people post about the steps local businesses are taking to keep people safe from coronavirus.
“I think people are forgetting that just because we have mandates in place and businesses are being very careful, it’s still a risk,” she said. “So, the safest thing you can do is stay home.”
Stacey is worried about the explosion of cases in the Spokane area.
“Spokane is going to be the new Florida. I keep telling people that,” she said. “I hate to say that because I love Spokane. I love the people here. I love our fierceness. I love our can do attitude but in this case, can do please stay home.”
Stacey is optimistic that her parents will get better and her family will get through this, but people need to do what they can to help curb the virus.
“If we don’t get this under control, we’re going to be talking this time next year still unable to do anything other than Zoom,” she said. “People are social animals, but we’ve got to pull back and do something like this, something like Zoom and take care of each other by being respectful.”