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Carlton Cook, once a vibrant and carefree father of three, now faces a grim reality. His wife, Janet Potter-Cook, is courageously sharing their story to seek answers and raise awareness about their harrowing experience.
Residing in Norfolk, Virginia, Janet recounts the ordeal that began as a seemingly innocuous health issue. It all started in late September when Carlton experienced flu-like symptoms. After visiting a doctor and a clinic, his condition initially appeared to improve, leaving the family with a sense of relief.
However, their relief was short-lived. The very next morning, Carlton’s face swelled alarmingly, prompting an urgent trip to the emergency room in Hampton. There, doctors made a startling discovery: a rare flesh-eating bacterium had invaded his system, entering through his nose and spreading to his neck.
Janet describes the subsequent 27 days in the hospital as a “nightmare,” a period that has left her husband facing the possibility of never walking or speaking again. By sharing their story, Janet hopes to shed light on the seriousness of such medical emergencies and find some much-needed answers.
But the next morning, his face became extremely swollen, and he was brought to the ER in Hampton, where his wife said doctors discovered a rare flesh-eating bacterium through his nose and in his neck.
“What am I going to tell my kids, what am I going to tell my family?” said Potter-Cook.
He was transferred to Sentara Norfolk General Hospital where his wife said he would undergo at least a dozen surgeries.
During this time, Potter-Cook said, her concerns grew, because she said nurses left her husband unattended for hours at a time. She said his machines were not plugged in properly, and fluid bags were leaking.
“I called my mom, I called his mom. Honestly, all I could do was try and get them to get there as soon as possible,” said Potter-Cook.
She said her husband was in such pain, he had to be restrained to keep him from pulling his breathing tube out. However, she said he was still able to get to it. Potter-Cook said staff rushed in to try reintubation through the nose, but she said this move was against what his chart recommended.
She said, doctors had discussed for at least a week that reintubation through the nose was no longer an option, and it had to be done through the neck, through a tracheostomy.
“It was a lot, and just sitting there waiting, waiting for somebody to come and tell you that they screwed up, or that everything was done correctly. I needed somebody to tell me something,” said Potter-Cook.
She said a doctor was able to perform a tracheostomy through the neck, but not for nearly 20 minutes.
Potter-Cook says the incident happened just before four in the morning, but she did not hear about his condition, and what doctors said happened, until the next morning.
She said it felt like a forever waiting game.
“In total, he was without sufficient oxygen for 15 to 20 minutes. Honestly, what it felt like was nobody read his case,” said Potter-Cook.
Now, Potter-Cook said her husband was not declared brain-dead, but that he had suffered significant brain damage from the lost oxygen, and was told by doctors he may never talk, walk, or move again.
Sentara spokesperson, Dale Gauding, provided a statement, which said:
Federal privacy laws prohibit hospitals from discussing any specifics about patient care. We can say that complaints about the quality of care are thoroughly examined. Patient advocates and risk managers invest time and effort with patients and families to ensure that complaints are addressed promptly and concluded fairly.
“And I still haven’t heard anything, so they have my number, they have my husband’s number, I carry his phone on me, nobody has contacted me about any of that,” said Potter Cook.
Cook was transferred to Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital, where Potter-Cook said he can now blink. She hopes he can someday be well enough, so they can transition him from there to in-home care.
While at Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, Potter-Cook said she had to make the decision whether to keep her husband alive and fighting or end his pain.
She said she had written a message on a whiteboard he used to communicate while still conscious: “I just don’t want to die.”
It’s a message, Potter-Cook said, that makes her believe he is still fighting and would want to keep up his fight.
She said she would fight right by him. She arrives at Lake Taylor Transitional Care Hospital when they open, and doesn’t leave her husband’s side until they close. She often reads him stories from their kids’ day-to-day lives, or shares music from the couple’s favorite playlist.
She hopes, one day, he can prove that he can beat the odds.
“He wrote on the board, I just don’t want to die, and I kept reminding myself of that, and I knew that he would want me to fight, because that’s who he is, he’s a fighter, we’ve always fought together, ‘against the whole world,’ as he put it, ‘you and me against the world,’” said, Potter-Cook.
Potter-Cook says they have hired legal counsel and are looking at their options moving forward.
She said she has yet to hear anything about the Sentara Norfolk General Hospital investigation and its findings, and hopes she can advocate for what she calls “mistakes” not to happen to any other family moving forward.
A fundraiser has been started for Carlton Cook and his family. You can find that here.