Sean McDonnell
Akron Beacon Journal
NORTON, Ohio — After about a dozen other Norton firefighters had come down with the virus, Chief Mike Schultz knew his symptoms were probably from COVID-19.
Days later when his wife found him hunched over the bathroom sink, he knew it was killing him.
“At that point I kind of knew I was dying,” Schultz said. “It’s a very bizarre feeling. I was at peace with the whole thing. I knew I had nothing left to fight with. My body was just done.”
Schultz, 55, is now recovering at home after a six-day hospital stay that was “touch-and-go.” He’s still really sick, saying he has the “lung capacity of a chipmunk.”
Before he got sick, Schultz said he was a healthy man, still regularly exercising and working day-to-day as a first responder. As he recovers at home, he’s worried the lasting effects of the virus may end his career.
Schultz said he’s the 12th person at the Norton Fire Department to catch COVID-19. The department was able to keep the virus at bay, with no positive tests for most of the pandemic.
Then three weeks before Thanksgiving, Schultz said his guys started getting sick in waves. The entire station was decontaminated daily, ambulances were stripped apart and cleaned after COVID-19 calls, but nothing stopped it.
“It’s like somebody left the door cracked and it got in, and no matter what we did we couldn’t slow it down,” Schultz said.
Schultz said he’s thankful that he took the worst of it. Most firefighters, he said, had minor symptoms. His battle took a sharp turn.
“It can go the wrong direction pretty fast,” Schultz said. “I’m a pretty good example of that.”
The day before Thanksgiving, he said his respiratory system was on fire. Schultz got tested and confirmed he had COVID-19. Friday, a CT scan showed he had pneumonia in his upper right lung.
When his wife found him lying over the sink Sunday, he told her “please call 911, I’m dying.” When he spoke to the New Franklin EMS, he told them the same thing.
“I had enough wits about me to know my respiratory system was shutting down,” he said.
The EMS trip began a six-day stint at the hospital Schultz would later say was like “being in hell.” He was on a combination of steroids, antibiotics and medications until his body started to react.
The hospital stay with COVID-19
He said he can’t remember much from his hospital stay, but the bits and pieces he can were not good. From his hospital bed, he had written out a warning, pleading with people to talk COVID-19 seriously.
“The isolation is scary and very unnerving,” Schultz said in his post. “People are dying in the rooms around me every day, and it’s like being in hell. So please, look out for each other.”
Even in that hell, Schultz said the hospital staff at Cleveland Clinic Akron General were amazing, often skipping breaks and working extra to make sure patients didn’t just get medical care — but also someone to sit and talk with.
“They were so great,” he said. “Even as hard as they’re working and as much as their seeing, they did not forget that most of us that were in there that were going to pull through this needed some kind of human contact.”
He said the care is especially amazing, given the challenge many healthcare workers are facing. Nine months ago, hospitals across the world were given a brand new disease to treat, with little to no information.
“They went into the hospital and gave the doctors and nurses one of those thousand piece jigsaw puzzles and dumped it on the table, but there’s no picture on the box,” he said.
The battle against COVID-19 continues after going home
Even after returning home, Schultz is still battling. He’s somehow become insulin dependent. His lung capacity is weak, he’s struggling to regain weight and he’s exhausted.
Just taking a shower is a challenge. Schultz said a year ago, he’d be hospitalized if he was this sick, but now they need every bed for people much sicker than him.
As a firefighter for 30 years, Schultz said he knew there was danger in the job. But while they always prepared for something like COVID-19, it’s scary to see something like this unfold.
“This is something I never imagined I would see in my career,” Schultz said.
Now, Schultz doesn’t know when, or if, his career will continue. He said his biggest hurdle right now is his lungs. In February he’ll see a specialist, but it could be months before he’s able to work again.
Although he’s chief, Schultz would still actively respond to calls at the department.
Some people will have long-term effects or damage from COVID-19. Schultz said he’s hoping the worst case scenario is long-term effects, and not life-long issues.
He said he can deal with shortness of breath, but not with having to leave Norton fire behind.
“I’m thankful that I came out on the other side of this,” Schultz said. “Anything beyond that, I can deal with it. It doesn’t scare me. But it does bother me that this virus could be what ends my career.”
Fire stations often become extended families, and Schultz said he can’t help but feel he should be there with his family, helping them respond to COVID-19.
“I feel like I should be there and I should be a part of it,” Schultz said. “They shouldn’t have to be doing this without me.”
At home, Schultz is quarantined with his wife, Karla, who has now also contracted the virus. So far she’s been able to stay home, but he’s worried for her because of asthma attacks she’s had in the past.
He said he wants people to understand how serious the virus is, and how badly it can affect even healthy people.
If you’re not worried about yourself, Schultz is asking you to worry about others, like his 73-year-old mother, his pregnant daughter, or anyone else you could infect but not being safe.
“Don’t be so damn selfish,” Schultz said. “Because it may not get you, but it may get somebody else.”
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(c)2020 the Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)