Local man survives 107-day battle with COVID
Sweetwater – Matt Shiplet, a federal highway engineer, was getting ready to shift between road projects back in August when he and his wife Michelle escorted a relative to be tested for COVID-19.
Within days, both were sickened by the dangerous virus.
Michelle recovered fairly quickly – after about a week, at Swain Community Hospital in Bryson City – but for Matt, it was just the beginning.
His condition worsening, he was rushed from Swain to Harris Regional Hospital’s ICU and then to Knoxville, Tenn., for long-term acute care.
His condition grew so grave, doctors braced Michelle for his passing not once but three times and at one point, she had even started planning for his funeral.
The Shiplet’s credit not just medical care for his survival, but prayers from around the world for the moment when his condition turned from grave, to recovering.
Matt is a Texan who earned a degree in highway civil engineering. He helped build the Cherohala Skyway and actually hired Michelle for the project, which is how they met; they married in 1995.
Shortly after he fell ill – until he woke up in a hospital in Knoxville – the entire ordeal was a blur.
“The good Lord wiped out his memories,” Michelle said.
But not for Michelle. The memories are vivid of a time when her beloved husband’s survival was not just in doubt, but doubtful.
Timeline
After their fateful trip to have a relative tested, Michelle fell ill in late August. Matt started showing symptoms around Sept. 3. He never tested positive for COVID-19, but because of his symptoms and worsening conditions, doctors treated him as a COVID-19 patient.
For about a week, both were hospitalized at the same hospital. They were both sent home and Michelle recovered, but Matt was back in the emergency room two days later.
He was transferred from the ER in Bryson City to the ICU at Harris Regional Hospital in Sylva as his condition worsened and his treatments became more invasive; up to – and including – intubation.
The symptoms piled on: liver failure, kidney failure, stroke on both sides of his brain. Breathing through a tube, fed through another tube and dosed with a myriad of medications to keep him alive — steroids, antibiotics and after Matt developed diabetes on top of everything else, insulin.
By that time, in late September, his condition grew so grave with no beds available, doctors considered sending him to Florida, but he was too ill to travel.
Michelle attributes his turnaround to a prayer meeting held in the parking lot in Sylva, where he was being treated at the time. Members of that group, along with people around the world, prayed for Matt’s recovery. It wasn’t until then that Matt started to rally.
“I credit that for the turnaround,” she said. “It was a battle cry against the enemy. There was prayer and we sang praises to God. We said to the enemy, no matter what, he wouldn’t win.”
Kicking out
Matt’s strength started to return. His kidney function returned to normal. He was well enough to be transferred to Knoxville, itself a small miracle since that hospital was focusing on local patients and not anyone from a small town in North Carolina.
After he recovered enough, Matt was transferred back to Sylva, the same hospital where his journey started some hundred days before. There, for more than a month, he underwent therapy to restore him to some semblance of the healthy 67-year-old he had been just the summer before.
He applied himself to therapy with the same ferocity of the COVID that attacked him and with which he fought back.
Medical staff – the same that had admitted him at the beginning of his struggle in September – was there to bid him farewell in December. Home in time for Christmas, Matt still uses a walker. The stroke he suffered while hospitalized affected his eyesight and speech, and left his left leg numb. Just days ago, his bosses brought him his laptop computer and a pile of work needing his attention.
“It’s time for me to pull my weight at work,” Matt said. “There’s tons of work coming up and I’m going to be responsible.”
Though some bills have not yet arrived, his health insurance as a federal employee was a big help, and his accumulated sick leave and paid time off were enough that he still has time off available.
Matt thinks back to the weeks before he fell ill. During his drive to work, he frequently passed a highway sign letting him know that COVID-19 vaccine was available at the next offramp.
“I kept saying OK, but I didn’t listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit to get that shot,” he said.
He had his first vaccine dose on Dec. 7, with the second due in January. He plans to keep that appointment, as well.