As his 1-year-old battles COVID-19 in a Missouri hospital, a distraught father is pleading with anyone who will listen: get vaccinated.
“It’s been really touch-and-go,” Kyle Butrum said of his son’s status on CNN Friday morning. The child is currently receiving oxygen. “No 1-year-old needs to go through this, ever,” he added, choking back tears.
For Butrum, one of the most difficult parts of his son’s sickness is that he can’t visit him because of safety protocols. “I don’t blame the hospital for that. They’re just trying to protect their employees as well, that their employees have families. So I don’t blame them for that, but it’s terrible,” he said.
When friends and co-workers reach out to ask if they can help, Butrum says there’s only one thing they can do. It’s our quote of the day.
Get your vaccine …so another father doesn’t have to stand at the back of an ambulance and wonder if that’s the last time you’re going to see your son.
Kyle Butrum
“This can happen to your kids,” Butrum told KY3. “It can happen to your mom. It can happen to your aunts, uncles, cousins. There is no line in the sand. It happened to my 1-year-old. And regardless of whatever you think, you’re part of the fabric of the community.”
The pain is particularly acute for Butrum because his newborn spent months in the hospital after a premature birth. “Spent five months wondering if he was ever going to come home,” Butrum said. “And I thought we were done with the major hospital things. Now here I am a year later, wondering if he is ever going to make it home again.”
Butrum’s son is currently being treated at Cox South in Springfield, Missouri. The family lives just across the state border in Arkansas. Arkansas ranks 46th in vaccination rate by state. Missouri is 39th.
On the topic of vaccines, Butrum told KY3, “To just actively choose not to do it, is to actively put someone else in danger. And that’s not fair to the ones who can’t make that decision. So please, please don’t let this happen to your kids. It’s not worth it.”
