It’s only a slight exaggeration to say a parent feels a child’s pain as much as they do.
For Teresa and Ed Murphey, the anguish of almost losing their son, Charlie, still catches them unawares.
“I’ll be driving down the road and have to pull over. It’s the darndest thing,” Ed said of the waterworks.
Charlie, age 41, tested positive for COVID-19 on Jan. 12. Four days later, his parents were told to prepare for the worst.
“The doctors said if his condition didn’t turn around in two to three days, that we should contact hospice,” said Teresa.
Not quite four months later, Charlie is back at work at Gates Manufacturing.
“He’s about 95% recovered” from a two-month ordeal, said Ed. “He tires easily, but he’s back with the living.”
Charlie spent two months recuperating, first as a patient in the COVID wing of Wesley Medical Center, then in rehabilitation.
In addition to having COVID pneumonia, he contracted a bacterial infection while in the hospital, which complicated his recovery.
When recalling their son’s experience battling COVID, it was difficult at times for the Murpheys to keep their composure. “The emotional highs and lows really wear you down,” said Ed, and are hard to shake off.
“The emotional highs and lows really wear you down,” said Ed, and are hard to shake off.
And because Charlie is single, his parents carried the responsibility of making weighty decisions including whether certain procedures could be performed.
“We told them to do whatever they had to do to save him,” she said.
COVID protocols kept the Murpheys separated from their son during these critical times, making the ordeal even more stressful.
“We had to have all these conversations over the phone,” Teresa said. “It was very difficult.”
