From near-death ... back into life

The coronavirus pandemic, now in apparent remission, has exacted a toll beyond the inconveniences and hardships of social distancing, vaccination campaigns, and disruption of employment, education, and public worship. Although the vast majority of those infected with COVID-19 have experienced relatively mild to moderate symptoms, many have struggled through more severe complications, and many have died.

Two Legates, Bryan Pecherek and Jason Shanks, were infected in late fall 2020 and came close to slipping into that final category. Both men spent last Christmas in hospitals, unconscious, and on ventilators, fighting for their lives, sustained by life-support measures and the fervent prayers of many.

These are their stories.

A marathon battle

As an avid runner and former U.S. Navy Reserve officer, 55-year-old Bryan Pecherek profiles as the very picture of health.

“I was in good health before the ‘Vid,’” as he calls the coronavirus, “and probably the best condition I had been in the last 20 years,” Pecherek said. “I was going to the gym three or four times per week and running on the other days, training for a half-marathon.” He had no underlying health conditions.

Yet when COVID-19 paid a visit, it hit him. Hard. “It was a total surprise,” said the Bucks County, PA Legate, a financial advisor with New Britain Financial Advisors.

Around December 8, Pecherek came down with what he suspected was his usual seasonal sinus infection, but the following week his condition worsened. His physician and fellow Legate, Dr. Max Mercado, wrote prescriptions, but his symptoms remained unremarkable. By the 18th, after a work-at-home day that “was a fog,” things escalated rapidly. His wife, Jen, who had gone to bed earlier, came downstairs to discover him lying on the couch gasping for air. She phoned 911.

EMTs arrived in hazmat gear, found his oxygen levels perilously low, and rushed him to Grand View Hospital in Sellersville, PA.

Before he knew it, he was in a hospital room, intubated, and on a ventilator. Soon he was sedated into an induced coma. He would remain in that state for 12 days.

“I coded and needed to be revived on the 19th,” Pecherek said. He later developed pneumonia and sepsis, and his kidneys were failing. “On the tenth day of the coma, they were going to medevac me to a neighboring hospital to take my blood out and clean it on some special machine.” Concerned he’d not survive the flight, doctors kept him in the ICU instead.

Meanwhile, Pecherek’s family, friends, and fellow parishioners held him up in prayer.

“Legatus was great during this time. After my recovery, I discovered that the entire group was praying for me, my family, and my recovery constantly,” he said. “Max Mercado called the hospital for updates and shared what he could. They all stepped up in ways I cannot describe.”

Doctors held little hope for his survival and believed he would suffer permanent effects of the disease if he did survive. “My friends felt differently and had lots of hope that God would answer their prayers,” Pecherek said. Nurses would later tell him how they were praying and saying rosaries for him as well.

On December 29, Day 12 of the coma, he was removed from the ventilator and breathing on his own. He had slept through Christmas but was conscious by New Year’s. On January 2, he was transferred to recovery and spoke to Jen for the first time in 16 days — via video chat.

Now awake, Pecherek, whom staff began calling the “Miracle Man,” could pray again. He began to remember dreams he had during his coma – of heaven, of his guardian angel, of a “joyful and comforting” love such as he had never experienced before, of the Blessed Mother holding his hand as he lay in his hospital bed. “The feeling was an indescribable love and peace,” he said.

After weeks of rigorous inpatient rehabilitation, Pecherek was released and returned home. He attributes his “miracle” to multiple factors.

“My strength for recovery came from a combination of the discipline I learned in the military and athletics,” he said. “But the main source of strength was truly and simply prayer.”

Months later, he still asks God what His plan or special mission for him might be. But he’s sure of one thing.

“My goal now, more than ever, is to get to heaven and to do what I can to get my wife and kids there too,” Pecherek said. “My goal is to be a saint. But for now, I am a saint-in-training.”

Through the shadow of death

After Jason and Melissa Shanks’ special-needs daughter was exposed to COVID-19 through her therapist’s office in early November, the illness coursed throughout the household as might be expected. Melissa and all five children recovered unscathed.

But Jason, president of Our Sunday Visitor’s Institute for Catholic Innovation and a Fort Wayne, IN Legate, was at elevated risk of complications due to his asthma. As his family recovered, his health headed downhill.

“We were following all CDC-advised protocols, especially social distancing and wearing of masks,” Shanks said. “I did think I would likely have a more severe case, and was I ever right.”

His prolonged battle and triumph over COVID-19 leads many to speak of a miracle.

Jason’s cough was out of control, and he could not breath deeply. He stepped up breathing treatments and got meds from the hospital ER but was not admitted. On November 14, nine days after testing positive, he was rushed back to the hospital.

Shanks thought all he needed was an overnight stay with oxygen and steroid treatment. Once admitted, however, doctors put him in the ICU. Like Bryan Pecherek, he was sedated into a comalike state. In Shanks’s case, he would be kept unconscious for six weeks.

Melissa Shanks knew she couldn’t handle this crisis alone, so she turned to her partners in faith and to social media to ask for prayers. The response was overwhelming. Our Sunday Visitor, local parishes, and other groups organized rosaries, novenas, and meal deliveries. Fellow Legates responded generously with both prayer and practical support.

“My Men’s Forum realized I wouldn’t be able to buy my wife Christmas presents, so they went shopping for her on my behalf. I couldn’t believe they did this,” Jason said. The Women’s Forum assisted Melissa with meals, laundry, and other helpful tasks. For her part, Melissa made nightly video calls to Jason after the kids were asleep to share the daily Mass readings and rosary with him, hoping he might hear her despite his unconsciousness.

In early December, doctors saw signs of improvement and tried to wean Jason off the ventilator. That didn’t work: he developed bacterial pneumonia and a MRSA infection that advanced into sepsis. Now sicker than ever, Jason’s organs were shutting down and his kidneys failed. He was placed on full-time dialysis, and doctors nearly hooked him to a heart-lung bypass machine. Doctors told Melissa that were Jason to survive, he likely would need dialysis and a ventilator for life.

Melissa put out another urgent call for prayers, and Jason’s supporters began a Novena to St. Jude, the patron of lost causes, on December 15. A friend brought Melissa a St. Jude relic, and a nurse placed the relic on Jason’s chest as he slept.

The next day, Jason had his first negative COVID-19 test, and his chest X-ray showed dramatic improvement to his lungs. Throughout the novena, his other symptoms also improved. By Day 9, doctors were planning to wean him from the ventilator again.

In January, Jason was moved to a rehabilitation facility in Ohio to continue his daunting path to recovery. His kidneys returned to normal function after having shut down, something Jason’s nephrologist calls a “miracle.” Jason had to relearn how to speak, eat, stand, walk, and write. His six weeks under sedation left him with an alternate sense of reality, and it took time to readjust to real-life routines. But his therapy went well, and within a month – on February 8 – Jason beat the odds and went home.

Like Pecherek, Jason’s neardeath experience led him to re-examine God’s purpose for his life and re-evaluate his priorities.

“When you almost lose your life, it just puts everything in perspective as to what’s important and not important,” he told OSV Newsweekly.

One major change in Jason’s prayer life is that he now has a strong devotion to St. Jude, having personally experienced his powerful intercession.

Reflecting on his ordeal, Jason expressed gratitude. “I feel free,” he said. “I am not supposed to be here. I want to appreciate things so much more and take nothing for granted. I have a greater sense of urgency.”

He felt that gratitude in a special way when he returned to his first meeting with his Legatus family.

“When I walked in, they cheered,” Jason recalled. “It meant the world to me to be back with friends, celebrating what God had done.”

GERALD KORSON, editorial consultant for Legatus magazine, is based in Indiana. 


Prayers in the key of life

"As I was recovering in the hospital, I would pray for eight or ten hours a day. I also discovered that thousands of people were praying for me. It was and is so humbling to find that even one person will take the time to ask God to help you." -Bryan Pecherek

"One Gospel story that resonated with me during my illness and recovery was that of the paralytic being lowered through the roof to Christ for healing. His friends interceded on his behalf. I relate this to the many peoploe who prayed for me and supported my family. In a way, I was put before Christ, and he said: 'Rise and walk.'" -Jason Shanks