THE PERSONAL TOUCH
CARTER FOX: VCU Health’s First COVID-19 Patient Recovers By Alex Henley MCV Foundation
Carol and Carter Fox (left, with their dog Joe), are pictured with Tessa Shuck, physical therapist, and Katie McGinn, speech therapist, who are assisting Carter with his ongoing recovery from COVID-19 at Westminster Canterbury Richmond. Photo: Bob Coles
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“We came home from vacation on a Saturday, and a week later he was on a ventilator,” Carol Fox said. On March 8, Carol and Carter Fox returned to their home at Westminster Canterbury Richmond, a retirement center, from a trip to Florida. Carter has Parkinson’s disease, so no one initially associated his weakness with COVID-19. His doctor in Florida sent the couple back to Richmond suggesting they would be safer. This was before recommendations on social distancing and travel restrictions were in place. “Carter didn’t have any typical symptoms,” Carol said. “With his Parkinson’s, he had never had a fall. After we got back, he fell on Thursday and he fell again on Saturday. By Sunday he was so weak I said, ‘We’re going to the hospital.’ We knew for a fact that we were going to MCV. We had to pay for the ambulance but there was no doubt about it — we were going to MCV.” Carter and Carol went to the emergency department at VCU Medical Center on the MCV Campus on Sunday, March 15. Carter was examined to check for injuries from his falls, but his condition deteriorated quickly and his oxygen levels began to drop. An X-ray revealed he had pneumonia. “Within two hours everyone was putting on additional PPE (personal protective equipment). Carter went into the ICU at 9 p.m. that night, and by 4 a.m. Monday morning he was on a ventilator. They told us I had to leave and we had to quarantine,” Carol said. Carter Fox was the first patient at VCU Medical Center to test positive for COVID-19.
