COVID-19 kills high school sweethearts on family vacation 

Howell couple dies hours apart from coronavirus complications 

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Patty Zimmerle had an infectious laugh. When she laughed, said her youngest son, Jeff Zimmerle, you just couldn’t help laughing along with her. That infectious laughter and quick smile served her well in real estate for years at the Coldwell Banker firm in Holt. 

Her husband, Andy, bonded with their youngest son, Jeff, by riding bikes with him through his childhood. Those rides created a lifelong connection to mountain biking, which Jeff Zimmerle still does. His dad worked as a controller, and did tax preparation on the side.  

“I don’t think I had to do a tax return except maybe one time, so I would know how to do it,” Jeff Zimmerle, 48, said. 

His parents met while students in Howell, married in October 1967 and remained married for 53 years until they died on April 20, 2021 — just hours apart. They were both 72. 

They’d been hit by the coronavirus while on an annual family vacation in Florida. Andy Zimmerle fell sick first and was taken to the emergency room. Jeff Zimmerle drove him, and once his father tested positive for coronavirus, he was whisked away to an isolation room. It was the last time he saw his father alive. 

Jeff Zimmerle said that doctors told him and his brothers that they were going to do a course of remdesivir on his father for five days. The expectation with the powerful antiviral drug was that the course of the novel virus would shorten, as would the damage the virus wreaked on the body. 

A few days later, his mother started showing the same symptoms. Jeff Zimmerle took her to the hospital, where she tested positive and was admitted. The hope: Remdesivir would stop her from getting sicker. 

“Her oxygen was already very, very low,” Jeff Zimmerle said.  

But days later, Zimmerle and his brothers got a call from the doctors that they didn’t expect.  

The virus in their mother was not responding to the remdesivir, and her lungs and heart were being overtaxed trying to keep the rest of her body oxygenated. Together, they decided it was best to put a tube down her throat and allow a machine to do the breathing for her, giving her lungs and heart a chance to rest and recover from the virtual assault.  

To do that, however, required sedating his mother and then inducing a medical coma. It was a risky medical choice, but the family decided it was the only one. A nurse brought an iPad into her room and her family gave her warm encouragement and let her know how much they loved her. 

It was early April and the family had only rented a condo for only a limited time in Florida.  

Jeff Zimmerle’s brother and sister-in-law decided to pack their car and drive back to Arizona, where they live, using that time to quarantine in case they were infected with the virus. Jeff Zimmerle was left to pack up his mother and father’s belongings, load them into their minivan and drive back to Michigan, leaving their parents in the hands of the doctors in Florida. He said he convoyed with a friend and drove more than half the distance from Florida to Michigan before both were bleary eyed. They pulled over and slept for a few hours, then made the long haul back up to Michigan. 

A few days later, Zimmerle received an early morning phone call from his parents’ doctors. 

“He said: I need to start off with some bad news,” Zimmerle recalled. “Your mother is not doing well. How far do you want us to go to sustain her life? We’ve maxed out her intubation system.” 

Zimmerle said he would need to consult his brothers. That’s when the doctor dropped another bomb: the drugs and oxygen mask were not helping his dad recover. They wanted permission to put him on a ventilation system. Together, they decided their mother would not want to be kept alive with machines. They also agreed to let the doctors make a last-ditch effort to save their father. 

Zimmerle called the doctors at the hospital and gave them the directives. But a few hours later, he got another call that his father had died as they were working to intubate him. His heart stopped and the medical team was unable to revive him. 

That evening came the call the family had expected: Patty Zimmerle had died a few hours after her beloved husband. They were on the same floor, but in separate rooms. Jeff Zimmerle was the only one in the family to have the opportunity to say goodbye to his dad. 

The Zimmerles weren’t opposed to vaccinations, but scheduling the vaccine between trips was a hassle. They figured they would get the shot when they returned to Michigan for the summer. 

“I am not going to judge anybody’s choice on the vaccines,” Zimmerle said. “But you need to know that if you get this virus, it can and likely will kill you. That is the choice you are making, so make sure you understand that.”  

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