Nadine Stroupe laid in her hospital bed taking deep breathes with warm air stinging the blisters in her mouth. Just down stairs in the crowded waiting room was her daughter Wendy bringing in Nadine’s husband, Larry for a paralyzing fever.
The hospital didn’t have a bed for him.
After months of questioning media coverage of COVID-19, what they once saw as scare tactics had now become their reality.
Larry and Nadine were part of an estimated 33% of Americans who have been wary of accepting COVID-19 information. For Larry and Nadine, their Christianity and a distrust in media combined kept them from lining up for the vaccine. Only after almost losing each other, have Nadine, Larry and their family come to terms with taking the virus seriously.
Nadine and Larry were married in 1969 at 17 and 20. They had their first daughter, Tracy, one year later. Their daughter Wendy was born by the time Nadine was 21. Both daughters now have two grown children of their own.
Both Larry and Nadine have had their share of health issues. Nadine has had spinal meningitis. Larry has undergone two open-heart surgeries, three back surgeries and had polio as a toddler that affects him to this day.
“I thought I was 10-foot tall and bullet proof. Like, if I could go through that I’ll be fine,” said Larry.
A typical day for the couple started with Nadine making herself and Larry toast with jelly, though Larry prefers classic biscuits and gravy – he used to eat pig brains for breakfast, but not lately.
Then, Larry walked out to their field to bust wood for their stove, drag it in and then tend to their garden. Nadine would stand on her feet at the kitchen counter prepping mouthwatering homemade meals.
Today, Porkchops are sizzling on the stove. Nadine is making biscuits from scratch; but she has to take a break. She starts to sweat and fans herself with her hot pink ‘best momma’ shirt. She sits down with Larry to watch the morning Fox News show, but that doesn’t last long before Larry finds a western to watch.
Their days have been quiet and simpler since they spent their 53rd wedding anniversary in the hospital.
When the pandemic broke out, Larry and Nadine were intimidated hearing death reports but were hearing more stories of the virus being like the flu from friends and family. They wore masks at times but mixed messaging made the precaution feel less serious.
“I heard the mask don’t really stop it because it’s a layer that’s not thick enough,” said Nadine.
“Nathaniel said the mask would not do nothing; it could help,” said Larry.
When news of the vaccine came on their television, they were more than just skeptical.
“They was pushing it so hard for everyone to get it. It didn’t seem normal to me,” said Larry. “I thought there had to be something behind it.”
Larry heard rumors that a magnet would stick to people where they got the Moderna shot. He said Nathaniel had tried it and confirmed the rumor. Larry saw the vaccine as a mark of the beast.
Their daughter Wendy, who lives a short walk up through the woods, shared their concerns. Was the news they were hearing true or was it a scare tactic to get people to take the shot? She wondered.
In August 2021, Wendy’s family had an outbreak. One of her sons caught COVID at work and brought it home to his wife and baby. They handed their baby over to Wendy hoping to keep the child from being sick. But the baby was already sick. Soon after followed Wendy, her husband and their other son, Nathaniel. Nadine and Larry dodged the contagion.
Wendy suffered from body aches to a point she thought she was going to have to die to get better. She knew then that she couldn’t let her parents catch it.
“They’re my life. I try my best to take care of them,” said Wendy. She encouraged her parents to stay home and wear masks in public.
“Did they listen? No,” said Wendy.
Two weeks later in September, Nadine and Larry attended funerals for COVID-related deaths. Days after, Nadine had a pounding headache and trouble breathing.
Larry took her to the walk-in hospital clinic where she tested positive for COVID-19. A couple of days later, Nadine went back to the emergency room. She went home that day with a four-liter oxygen tank.
Wendy suited up in garbs to check her mother’s vitals. Oxygen levels in the 80s made Wendy call for Nathaniel’s advice. “Momma, she won’t make it if you don’t call the ambulance,” said Nathaniel.
The ambulance made its third trip to Nadine’s and took her to Mission Hospital McDowell where Nadine received an antibody infusion and stayed for the next three weeks.
Larry sat at home with a skyrocketing fever.
“I’m in the hospital bed trying to tell him if he doesn’t get up off the couch he’s going to die,” said Nadine.
Larry soon made his way to the hospital. They didn’t have a bed for him.
“I kept begging them to put him in a room with me because he couldn’t figure out where I was at,” said Nadine. “He was so disorientated.”
“I went up there and showed my hind end cause they said they were going to take my daddy but didn’t know where to,” said Wendy.
Larry was transported to Mission Hospital, 40 minutes away in Asheville N.C. that Thursday.
That day he recalls his doctor saying “Son, I doubt you’ll ever get out of here.” Then his only memories until Monday are of vivid hallucinations – including that of his wife dying.
Though Nadine was still breathing, slowly. Her and Larry both had pneumonia. They also had no way to talk to each other.
“That drove me nuts, not being told what to do,” said Larry.
For eight days, Larry was stuck in a bed with an alarm he said sounded if he reached for his food or clothes. He lied their feeling what he described as worse than all of his back surgeries and open-heart surgeries combined.
Unlike Larry, Nadine had a phone with her and was able to keep her family updated. Her sister Joyce McKinney, one of five siblings, called daily.
“It was hell,” said Joyce. “Her and Larry had always been there for each other and now they couldn’t be.”
Joyce, who was vaccinated as soon as possible, wept tears and said prayers daily thinking of her sister’s chances.
“Nadine is one of the strongest women in my family,” said Joyce.
Nadine’s mouth was blistered from her gums to her dry throat. It hurt to swallow water. She dreaded taking her pills. Even crushed up and mixed with apple sauce, they left a bitter feeling.
Visitors weren’t allowed but Nadine’s grandson Nathaniel, who was once a nurse there, pulled some strings to bring her cups of yogurt.
Nathaniel Causby became a nurse after helping take care of his Granny Beulah, Nadine’s mother, in her final days.
He had worked at McDowell when COVID hit the county hard. The burnout of long hours and depressing days sent Nathaniel to work a different position at another hospital.
Nathaniel was finishing his BSN when his family caught COVID. He felt more prepared to handle the uncertainty than anybody else.
“I don’t ever remember a time I wasn’t close to them. There’s always been a special connection with them,” said Nathaniel about his grandparents.
When the vaccine was released, Nathaniel himself was skeptical at first. He questioned how a vaccine could be made so fast. After lots of research, he got his first shot in January 2021.
Nathaniel tried to pitch the vaccine to his parents and grandparents.
“It’s kind of like talking to a brick wall at first. They didn’t want to hear it, whatsoever,” said Nathaniel.
It took their own near-death experiences to persuade them.
“I thought, I’ll be the guinea pig,” said Wendy.
Wendy and her husband got vaccinated soon after almost losing her parents. Her sister has yet to get the shot.
“If there’s a flood out there and a boat pulls up and you tell them to go on, you’re going to drown,” said Nadine.
Her and Larry are now fully vaccinated – with the Moderna shot – and waiting to get boosters. Larry has yet to try sticking a magnet to his arm.
“I thought I’m sure going to take any precaution I can, cause I’m not getting it again. When I got it, it opened my eyes. I said this is real. It was worse than what I thought it was. It bout killed me and her both,” said Larry.
Months later, Nadine and Larry are far from being mentally and physically back to normal. Diagnosed as ‘long haulers’ by their doctor, both now use oxygen tanks when needed.
“Sometimes it feels like I’m feeling it all over again,” said Larry.
It has been hard for him to get the strength back to go outside and take on his normal chores.
Nadine described several times she felt her legs turn into spaghetti, passed out and hit the floor. Once, Larry couldn’t get her up. Without his daughters’ numbers in their new phone, he scrambled around the house until he finally found Wendy’s number on a sticky note and called for help.
Nadine lost her hair from the steroids she took and now picks out a wig from those her daughters bought for her before she goes out.
Initially, they stayed home at all times under strict orders from their daughters. Now, they get out when they can to shop and go to church. There, they’ve started going in late for a spot on the back row and sneaking out early to avoid congregating. They are two of a handful in the church that wear masks.
Larry remains adamant that everyone should make their own choice in getting the vaccine. Though, he continues to encourage anyone to take the shot.
Nadine sums up their experience with a piece of advice:
“Whatever you say, be careful what you say, because it comes back to get you.”