'If we can save one woman, one baby’: With daughter, grandchild in hospital, anguished Montreal man pleads for pregnant women to get vaccinated
An anguished father who's dividing his time between visiting his daughter on life support at a Montreal hospital and his premature grandchild in the pediatric ICU is imploring pregnant women to get vaccinated against COVID-19.
“This is the worst of the worst. Seeing your child with all these machines and all this tubing," he said.
"When you ask the doctor, ‘Is she going to be okay, are you going to save her?’ they don’t answer,” he said in an interview with CTV News, his voice breaking with emotion.
And his pain has been amplified, because it appears there were other forces at work when it came to his daughter’s decision making process around getting the COVID-19 vaccines that experts say would have helped protect her and her baby.
“She was afraid to get vaccinated and she was badly influenced by her friend,” who was anti-vaccination said her father, who we’ll call David to protect the identity of his daughter, who we’ll call Lindsay.
Lindsay's newborn, who was delivered about 30 weeks into her pregnancy due to her deteriorating condition, is being wheeled over regularly from the Montreal Children’s Hospital to the Royal Victoria Hospital’s ICU, both part of the McGill University Health Centre, so the premature baby can be placed “skin-to-skin” on their mother’s chest.
David was in the ICU when his grandchild was brought into Lindsay’s room and described the moment as “heartbreaking.”
“Ask any mother, ‘Would you like to be in a situation that they put the kid on your chest and you cannot touch it, you can not hug [them]?’”
He said what his family is going through is “devastating…like a bad movie.”
“Right now I feel like I’m living in a tunnel. It puts life really upside down in a second.”
The Quebec woman was about 29 weeks pregnant, and unvaccinated when she became sick with COVID-19 about five weeks ago.
David explained that he decided to contact CTV after we first reported the story, because he wanted to do whatever he could to prevent another family from suffering through a similar crisis.
- READ MORE: Montreal hospital delivers baby to unvaccinated mother with COVID-19, who is now on life support
“I do understand this story could be helpful to others. You know, the influence of people on other people that jeopardize their life, it’s what we live right now,” he said, referring to the copious amounts of influential vaccine disinformation online and on social media.
“If we can save one woman, one baby,” by speaking out, he said, it will be worth it, adding he is aware from all his recent research that pregnancy increases the risk of COVID-19 complications.
David, who just received his third dose, said it’s hard for him to understand why some people are so skeptical.
“Do you really think it’s to make money for a pharmaceutical company? Come on, wake up,” he said. “It’s the entire world. And stop influencing people! If you want to influence people, influence them to get the shot.”
Unvaccinated pregnant women are six times more likely to end up in an ICU, according to experts and to the most recent Canadian surveillance data on maternal and infant outcomes.
“COVID-19 vaccination is recommended during pregnancy in any trimester and while breastfeeding,” states a fact sheet for doctors prepared by the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of Canada.
IT 'DEGENERATES' SO FAST
For the last two years, ICU doctors in Montreal and elsewhere have been reporting that a COVID patient’s condition can deteriorate rapidly. That’s exactly what happened to Lindsay.
Only a few days after developing symptoms, her health spiralled out of control, which surprised David, given that she has no chronic conditions, he said.
She was admitted to the Jewish General Hospital's ICU and was put on a ventilator.
But her health was deteriorating and so an emergency caesarean section was performed to deliver her baby about two months early.
David was shocked by “how fast it degenerates,” and was then worried for the baby, if they would get COVID, if they would survive.
He said his only joy comes from seeing that so far his new grandchild “is doing okay, getting better every day,” but the situation is still fragile.
Mother and baby were transferred to the MUHC, where Lindsay could be placed on ECMO, a type of life support system that does the work of her heart and lungs - it’s “the last machine they have, you know? After that, they have nothing else.”
“The care is amazing, incredible…they want to save [Lindsay]. They work so hard to save her,” he said.
David said he didn’t think to ask Lindsay if she’d gotten the shots when she was pregnant and wishes he had. He encouraged families and friends to broach the subject.
"Why don't you just verify with them if they are vaccinated?" he said. "Because I don’t wish this situation on anybody."
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Widow looking for answers after Quebec man dies in Texas Ironman competition
The widow of a Quebec man who died competing in an Ironman competition is looking for answers.
Tom Mulcair: Park littered with trash after 'pilot project' is perfect symbol of Trudeau governance
Former NDP leader Tom Mulcair says that what's happening now in a trash-littered federal park in Quebec is a perfect metaphor for how the Trudeau government runs things.
World seeing near breakdown of international law amid wars in Gaza and Ukraine, Amnesty says
The world is seeing a near breakdown of international law amid flagrant rule-breaking in Gaza and Ukraine, multiplying armed conflicts, the rise of authoritarianism and huge rights violations in Sudan, Ethiopia and Myanmar, Amnesty International warned Wednesday as it published its annual report.
Photographer alleges he was forced to watch Megan Thee Stallion have sex and was unfairly fired
A photographer who worked for Megan Thee Stallion said in a lawsuit filed Tuesday that he was forced to watch her have sex, was unfairly fired soon after and was abused as her employee.
Amid concerns over 'collateral damage' Trudeau, Freeland defend capital gains tax change
Facing pushback from physicians and businesspeople over the coming increase to the capital gains inclusion rate, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his deputy Chrystia Freeland are standing by their plan to target Canada's highest earners.
U.S. Senate passes bill forcing TikTok's parent company to sell or face ban, sends to Biden for signature
The Senate passed legislation Tuesday that would force TikTok's China-based parent company to sell the social media platform under the threat of a ban, a contentious move by U.S. lawmakers that's expected to face legal challenges.
Wildfire southwest of Peace River spurs evacuation order
People living near a wildfire burning about 15 kilometres southwest of Peace River are being told to evacuate their homes.
U.S. Senate overwhelmingly passes aid for Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan with big bipartisan vote
The U.S. Senate has passed US$95 billion in war aid to Ukraine, Israel and Taiwan, sending the legislation to President Joe Biden after months of delays and contentious debate over how involved the United States should be in foreign wars.
'My stomach dropped': Winnipeg man speaks out after being criminally harassed following single online date
A Winnipeg man said a single date gone wrong led to years of criminal harassment, false arrests, stress and depression.