LEXINGTON, Ky. — It was late January, and Dave Hoover thought he had a sinus infection. When his health kept getting worse, he went to an urgent care clinic and tested positive for COVID-19.

A week later, with his health not improving, the Stanford resident was admitted to Ephraim McDowell Regional Medical Center in Danville with bilateral COVID pneumonia. The former bodybuilder had always followed a strict diet and exercised regularly, which made his situation an anomaly, especially after spending weeks in the hospital, his health continued declining. 

“Despite all the medications and treatment, my body wasn’t really responding,” Hoover said. “Even though I had completed the treatment, I was requiring so much oxygen and couldn’t get weaned down. Once they decided I needed more care than they could provide, I was quickly transferred. It saved my life.”

Hoover, 43, was transferred to the University of Kentucky’s Albert B. Chandler Hospital after spending nearly a month as an inpatient in Danville. COVID-19 had run its course, but in the process, had caused severe and irreversible damage to his lungs.

“The night Dave was transferred to UK, I got a call from the physician while on my way there, saying that Dave was declining and they couldn’t wait any longer to intubate him,” said Emily, Dave’s wife. “I had a real fear that the conversation I had with him before transport would be the last time I talked to him.” 

Dave was intubated upon arriving at UK and was later placed on venovenous extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, or VV-ECMO, a machine that pumps blood outside the body to a heart-lung machine. The VV-ECMO removes carbon dioxide and sends oxygen-filled blood back to the lungs, which helps improve the oxygenation to the tissues. The machine allowed the transplant team to remove him from ventilator support and stop sedation so Dave could be more mobile.

Doctors had determined Dave needed a double lung transplant. The ECMO machine and high oxygen delivered via a nasal cannula kept him alive as he waited on the transplant list.

“It gave me a sense of hope that I might recover and see my kids and family again,” he said.

Dave took daily walks around the intensive care unit (ICU) surrounded by hospital staff with the ECMO machine in tow to maintain his strength, which he said was the most demanding physical activity he had ever endured.

“I felt like I was drowning the whole time,” he said.

After a few weeks on the waiting list and 33 days on the ECMO, a donor was found, and Dave went into the operating room that night. The surgery, which lasted several hours, was performed by UK Cardiothoracic Surgeon and Surgical Director of Lung Transplantation Dr. Suresh Keshavamurthy. His anesthesiologist was Dr. Sanjay Dwarakanath. Dr. Rajasekhar Malyala procured the donor lungs.

Dave is the first person in Kentucky and among a few in the country to have a double lung transplant after contracting COVID-19. He donated his lungs to UK so researchers can study the virus and its effects. He was discharged on April 23, 19 days after his transplant and three months after being initially admitted to the hospital.

“In my eyes, this is a God-given miracle that he gave me this second chance at life,” Dave said. “I'm just blessed to still be here. It almost still seems kind of like a dream to me. All of the dates and the timelines and everything pretty much just kind of run together and overlap a little bit. Even though I've told the story many times to many different people, I still have to refer to my wife a lot of times to get me straight on the dates and the time frames and everything. “I’m doing really good, and I’m just glad to be home and with my family.”