From despair to healing
Katherine “Kandy” Jackson tears up when she recalls her illness last winter. At her lowest point she worried that she wouldn’t see her grandchildren. She feared leaving her husband alone.
Her ordeal began in early February 2022 not long after Martin, her husband of more than 34 years, tested positive for COVID-19. She was feeling sick as well, but while he was out for little more than a day, Kandy’s symptoms worsened. She couldn’t catch her breath and found herself confused and exhausted.
“I didn’t know who he was,” she says. “I didn’t know my kids’ birthdays. I didn’t know anything.” Martin took her to a local emergency room, where staff checked her oxygen levels, took some X-rays, prescribed cough medicine and an antibiotic and sent her home.
Two days later Martin was frightened enough to tell Kandy he thought they should call an ambulance. At first Kandy considered spending one more night at home but eventually she agreed a trip to the hospital was needed. She asked Martin to take her to St. Joseph Health Regional Hospital, where she had previously undergone neck surgery.
“She had said ‘Just let me sleep it off and we’ll see how I feel then,’” Martin recalls. “I just knew there wasn’t going to be a tomorrow if I let her do that.”
By the time Kandy arrived in the emergency room at St. Joseph, her oxygen saturation level had dropped to 65 – critically low. She was diagnosed with COVID pneumonia and Martin was warned his wife might not survive. Kandy spent 17 days at the hospital, seven on a ventilator. While the experience was incredibly difficult, the two are deeply grateful for the exceptional and compassionate care Kandy received.
“From the outside looking in, you know, it’s just a hospital,” Martin says. “But being there day to day and seeing the staff, the nurses, and the doctors gave me a better outlook and a different respect for them. They are just wonderful. I couldn’t ask for any better. I’m so blessed.”
Before Kandy was discharged, Martin decided he wanted to give back to the hospital that had saved his beloved wife. Kandy’s room looked out on a section of parking lot and driveway that were in need of repair. The owner of a paving company, Martin realized he had the ability to donate something that would make a difference for both employees and patients. The repairs to the parking lot were completed and blessed during a ceremony and reception to thank the Jacksons for their generosity.
More recently, the Jacksons rallied friends to support much-needed equipment for the NICU at College Station Hospital.
“As Christians we always want to try to help,” he says. “And it was something that we wanted to do to try and give back to the community and to the people who work there. That really put their hearts into what they do.”