Cape Girardeau lung doctor hospitalized with COVID-19

CAPE GIRARDEAU, Mo. (KFVS) - A Cape Girardeau doctor is fighting for his life after testing positive for COVID-19.

The community is starting to rally around him and his family the best way they know how.

Prayer is all Dr. Graham’s wife, Tammy, is asking for right now as she grapples with the unknown of this virus that has so quickly turned their lives upside down.

Tammy gave us permission to share some of what she has been sharing with friends lately on facebook.

She posted this in part on March 28, 2020:

“Friends, I need your prayers in full force right now. I didn’t imagine I would need to post about this, but here we are. My husband has tested positive for COVID-19. He has been very sick for a week. He was admitted to the hospital today with trouble breathing. We desperately need your prayers.”

Tammy Graham said her husband is on a ventilator and they recently started a feeding tube to give him nutritional support.

She said the next big hurdle is getting his pneumonia to clear.

Dr. Graham happens to be a pulmonologist, a lung doctor with the Saint Francis Healthcare System.

So, he would be quite the expert on what is happening in his own body right now.

Pulmonology is an area of medicine that focuses on the health of the respiratory system.

Pulmonologists treat everything from asthma to tuberculosis…to now, the coronavirus.

According to Saint Francis Healthcare System, it is believed Dr. Graham did not contract it locally.

They said he was quarantined upon arrival and never returned to the facility until he was admitted to its COVID-19 care unit.

His wife just wants everyone to know just how serious this illness is.

“Please for the health of everyone, stay home until this passes,” said Tammy Graham. “This virus can look different for each person. If you aren’t sure, quarantine yourself for a few days until you figure out the symptoms. Keith’s started with a simple scratchy throat followed by coughing the next day.”

She suggested you call the hotline at 573-331-4200 if you suspect you have any symptoms.

“I actually thought Keith was getting a little better the day he was hospitalized,” said Tammy Graham. “Things can change very quickly. I do not want another family to go through this.”

She cannot stress enough the importance of staying home and following the current CDC guidelines.

She also wanted to thank everyone who has been praying for her husband and their family, and asked for continued prayer support in the days ahead.

In one of her most recent posts on social media, Tammy Graham said, “We still have a long road ahead, but I know God is in control.”

Copyright 2020 KFVS. All rights reserved.