MIDDLEBURG HEIGHTS, Ohio -- Family, friends and community members will meet for a group walk to Southwest General Health Center Thursday morning to show support for Stephanie Radwanski, 24 of North Ridgeville, who is fighting for her life after battling COVID-19.
The walk will begin at 9:30 a.m. at the Lake-to-Lake trailhead in Big Creek Reservation, arriving at Southwest General Health Center’s front entrance around 10:30 a.m. so the group can share cards, pictures, stuffed animals and words of encouragement with Jeanne and Jerry Radwanski, Stephanie’s parents who will be with her at the hospital.
More than five weeks ago, Stephanie Radwanski tested positive for COVID-19. When she began to get weak, tired and developed a fever, she went to the emergency department at Southwest General where she was given medication and asked to come back for additional treatment.
But when she returned, her vitals showed that her oxygen levels were dangerously low and she was admitted into the hospital. Over the next week, her oxygen levels kept dropping and doctors had to put her on a ventilator and sedate her on Nov. 4. They braced her family for the worst.
“When you have an infectious disease doctor come in and tell you that they don’t think she’s going to make it through the night, you’re in shock,” said Jeanne Radwanski, her mother.
Three weeks later, she no longer has coronavirus but she’s still in critical condition and on life support and sedated with significant damage and scaring in her lungs. She will remain on life support until she can maintain necessary oxygen levels on her own.
“We’re at the stage right now where we’re just kind of waiting,” said Jeanne Radwanski.
She describes her daughter as a great kid with a heart of gold who would do anything for anyone. The oldest of three sisters, Stephanie Radwanski recently started working as an expanded functional dental assistant at a dental office in Brunswick. She likes to sing, hike, listen to music and enjoy the outdoors.
The Radwanski family has a tradition of taking a Thanksgiving morning walk to remember how thankful they are to have the ability to exercise together. This year, Jeanne and Jerry Radwanski will be at the hospital waving to the walkers from a window at the end of their daughter’s hallway.
Through all of the emotional turmoil her family has endured this past month, Jeanne Radwanski says she still has a lot to be thankful for this year.
“I’m grateful for my friends and family because they’ve really made a nightmare a little bit easier. I am beyond grateful for the health care workers, they are seriously heroes,” she said. “It would be nice to have everyone together this year but unfortunately, that’s not the case. Hopefully she’ll be on the mend and next year she’ll be right back on the trail with us.”
Ad Choices