‘I was one of those that was anti-vax’: Local father changes perspective as daughter fights for her life on ventilator
SPOKANE VALLEY, Wash. — A local father has had a change of heart about vaccination after watching his daughter almost die from COVID.
Jeff Trefry now spends his days at the hospital, watching his daughter, Jadyn, on a ventilator. It is a nightmare he does not want any parent to experience.
“I was watching a healthy 19-year-old die in front of me,” he said.
All Trefry could do was look at his daughter in a hospital bed, unable to breathe on her own.
“She had so much fluid on her lungs and in her lungs that she was basically drowning,” Trefry said.
Now, he is drowning in guilt because of how he felt about the COVID vaccine.
“I was one of those that was anti-vax. I was one of those that posted on social media about how this isn’t a real virus and it’s no worse than any other, and I just want to say I was an idiot,” Trefry said.
Jadyn got COVID at the end of September, but ended up in the hospital with multisystem inflammatory syndrome a few weeks after. Doctors say it is a rare, but serious complication of COVID.
On top of breathing issues, her body also swelled up.
“I didn’t recognize my own child. She didn’t look like herself,” Trefry said. “I will probably have nightmares for years about the things that I have seen this week.”
Trefry still feels weak. He spends day and night at the hospital, doing what he can to help his daughter heal.
He is now sharing his story so others who may feel the same way can see the trauma COVID has brought his family.
As Trefry walks back to be by Jadyn’s side, he is grateful his actions did not cost his daughter her life.
“If I just would have shut up, she would’ve gotten the vaccine and my daughter would not be in this condition,” Trefry said.
Jaydn is now on the road to recovery. There is not a set date for her release from the hospital, but Trefry is just grateful she will be coming home.
READ: Spokane health leaders express the importance of vaccinating younger children
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