Tracie and David had been married ten years when David was admitted to the hospital with COVID in July 2020. Tracie remembers it well. “I helped him out of the car, thinking I’d park and come inside with him. But the gentleman assisting him at the entrance turned to me and said, ‘No, ma’am, you won’t be coming in. You’ll have to sit in the car until we let you know what’s going on.’ I couldn’t believe it. Since we’d been married, we’d never been apart a single day. I sat in the car for two and a half hours, waiting for news. David finally texted me and said he had tested positive for COVID. They were keeping him, and I had to go home.”

The illness progressed quickly. The next afternoon, David could no longer communicate because of his full-face oxygen mask, and later that day, he was moved to the ICU. Tracie was asked to pick up his belongings, not knowing if she would ever see him again.

David spent close to three weeks in the ICU, most of it in a prone position. There were several tense moments and one phone call where Tracie was told David might not survive the night. Her faith, family, and friends carried her through.

After 27 days in the hospital, David was released to go home on five liters of oxygen. The couple believed they would soon move beyond this setback and resume their pre-COVID lives. But the challenges were only beginning.

Before critical illness, David was a school bus contractor. He was always on the go, waking at 5 AM, working on buses, and running his company. But after the ICU, everything changed. The couple’s youngest son and their son-in-law had to take over the business. “We kept telling ourselves, ‘This is temporary. He’ll recover,’” Tracie recalls. “But he never fully did.”

David was suffering with joint pain, neuropathy, shortness of breath, and dizziness. His stamina was nearly gone. But the most challenging part of his post-ICU life was the cognitive decline, particularly memory loss and trouble with concentration.

As David fought to recover, the couple lost two-thirds of their business when a new company outbid them. As a result, they were forced to lay family members off. Financially and emotionally, it was devastating for both Tracie and David, and depression set in.

The couple began to find hope when David was referred to Vanderbilt’s Long COVID program. Through that, he joined a support group and realized he wasn’t alone. David learned about Post-Intensive Care Syndrome (PICS) and Tracie learned there was a support group for caregivers living with PICS-f. She too found a community of others who understood her circumstances due to their own lived experience. “There is PTSD associated with this journey—for the survivor and the caregiver,” Tracie said. “You stay strong while it’s happening, but eventually, it all hits you.”

Today, David and Tracie focus their efforts trying to out-love each other, especially on the days when depression and frustration are overwhelming. As a self-proclaimed “fixer,” Tracie had to learn that some things simply can’t be fixed. She had to learn to let go and to slow down. Tracie considers herself blessed to still have her husband. And no matter what, she says, the couple will keep walking this journey—together.