On January 9, 2021, Len Fouch’s father died of pneumonia in a Virginia hospital. When Fouch drove up from South Carolina to help his mother and sister with funeral arrangements, the three ended up contracting COVID-19. While his mother and sister responded well to medication, Fouch did not. His wife drove up to Virginia and brought him back to South Carolina, taking him to a Spartanburg ER, where she would not see him again for three and a half weeks.
On the day he was admitted to the hospital, Fouch’s oxygen levels were at 72% and his temperature neared 104°. After physicians had done all they could to help Fouch, he was put under anesthesia, given feeding tubes, and put on a ventilator.
When he awoke in the hospital’s ICU on February 4, Fouch found himself in soft restraints to prevent him from pulling out his tubes, and a nurse named Cat Wynkoop was reassuring him that she was taking care of him, and that he would be okay. She set up a laptop with speakers and began to play music from his youth. While he had been sedated, Wynkoop had been in contact with Fouch’s wife and son to give them updates on his health, and to find out what kind of music he enjoyed. And to help expedite Fouch’s recovery, Wynkoop also facilitated FaceTime sessions between him and his family.
In April of 2024, Fouch and Wynkoop sat down with StoryCorps to reflect on their time together in that ICU.
TRANSCRIPT:
Wynkoop: As much as your life means to you, you know, you living meant that much to me.
Fouch: My wife refers to Cat as the angel that was sent to take care of me and her. I woke up in ICU on February 4th with Cat helping me. I didn't know if I was her only patient, but she sure made me feel that way. I didn't remember at that time how long I'd spent in ICU, but I do remember Cat talking with me every day, taking care of me, explaining what had happened and reassuring me I would be okay.
Wynkoop: You didn't know it, but a couple weeks before you got there, nobody was leaving the ICU…unless they were in a body bag. Nobody. We were short nurses. Everybody was bailing out. You know, everybody was tired. You can't just call it “burnout.” There was something else going on. We finally had a patient that we extubated, and he made it. And that nurse, I'll never forget, Daniel…he just looked like he was floating. And I said, “Hey, man, congratulations.” And he, like, just stopped and just looked at me real close and said, “Man, I needed that.” When he said that, it hit me. It was like, “Yeah, I need that.” I was feeling really down, like, so, I mean, I just don't even know where I was at, how dark it was getting for me. But you were, like, the light in all of it. And you were the light at the moment that I needed it…the most. Because, nobody had made it before. Only one other guy before you. You were the second one. We're a small town, but we serve five counties, so a lot of people came through there. Whole families we had lined up in that ICU. None of them made it.
Fouch: Like you said, the sad part was, once those people were dropped off, the families sometimes never saw them again.
Wynkoop: Right, yeah. And thank God your wife…listened to me about doing the FaceTime, because the patient can hear you and they need to hear their family, and they weren't allowed in the building. But, I understood when people didn't do it. It's painful to see, you know, I said, “Well, we don't have to do the screen then. You don't have to see them, but you just talk to them, you know, anything. Just tell them…read them a recipe, something, just anything, just so they can hear your voice.” And it really helps. And the people that they did that for, that I could convince to do it, they did get better. But for a long time, people wouldn't. Your wife was one of the few people who did it.
Fouch: How do you say thank you for saving somebody's life? And I think that along our lives, that God puts people in our path when we need them the most.
Wynkoop: Absolutely.
Fouch: I am thankful every day that I wake up, that I am able to wake up again. 22 days that I spent dealing with that has changed me in so many ways forever.
Wynkoop: Me too.
Fouch: Both mentally, physically, spiritually. Any way you want to look at it.
Wynkoop: How can it not, man?
Fouch: Every day is a gift.
Wynkoop: Absolutely.
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