Community rallies for Calvez family
Published 4:00 pm Tuesday, November 2, 2004
Oct. 13 began like any other day. Van Calvez kissed wife Leigh and their 10-month-old daughter Eleanor goodbye, and ran for the 7:05 ferry.
At 12:45, he was answering customers’ questions about low-toxic paints and “green” building supplies at Seattle’s Environmental Home Center, when the call came that changed everything.
“(Leigh) said, ‘come home, I’m really sick,’” Calvez said. “She said she had severe shakes and chills.”
The family was plunged into the nightmare of Leigh’s illness, where a healthy, young woman – a mother, a writer, a professional who made a serious study of whales and other wildlife – could, in a single day, draw near death.
When he couldn’t reach his wife with a return call, Calvez dialed 911. Meanwhile a friend, Sharon Negri, had arrived at the house to find Leigh prostrate on the kitchen floor. She managed to get Leigh to Virginia Mason Clinic, where Calvez met them.
It was becoming clear that Leigh, whose temperature was spiking at 105, needed to be in a hospital. Calvez grabbed baby gear and followed the ambulance onto the ferry in Negri’s car. At the emergency room, he began to realize the seriousness of her situation.
“It started to dawn on me that something was really wrong,” Calvez said.
The culprit was Strep Group B, a relatively common bacteria. The question was: Why had the bacterium overwhelmed Leigh’s immune system? Doctors were too busy treating the increasingly life-threatening symptoms to find immediate answers.
Her blood pressure plummeted even as they pumped Leigh full of fluids. Four medications at maximum doses couldn’t stabilize her. The bacteria was producing a toxin that shut down organs and sent Leigh into toxic shock. Antibiotics were ineffective. Cells were being deprived of oxygen.
Doctors told Calvez his wife had less than a 5 percent chance of survival. Her family had gathered from around the country.
“(Doctors) told me, ‘she’s getting everything we have. There’s not much more we can do,’” Calvez said. “They said if she makes it to Sunday the situation will look better. We need her body to turn the corner.”
Faced with the stark circumstances, Calvez – who also had to care for baby Eleanor – was sustained, he says, by the kindness of friends, hospital staff and even complete strangers.
Maybe it was a case of “what goes around comes around.” A wide circle of friends say the family have been loving members of the community. In addition to volunteer work in recycling and environmental efforts, the couple, both writers, have made contributions to island cultural life.
Friends arrived in droves, Calvez says; “heroes” like Negri, Tamara Kaye Sellman and Keith Brofsky took time out of already busy lives to make the ferry crossing.
Hospital staff went out of their way to help, from nurses who took diapers and formula from the grocery bags in their own vehicles to the staff who offered them the Solace Room, a private space where he could stay with Eleanor. ER staff called to find out about Leigh; doctors from the VM Clinic checked in.
“It’s hard to find words to talk about kindness like that,” Calvez said.
By Sunday night, Leigh was beginning to stabilize. But it would be Tuesday before she regained consciousness. On Friday, her 38th birthday, she came off the ventilator.
“It’s really big,” Calvez said. “It reduces the risk of infection. It’s a pretty good birthday present.”
The family faces long months of of regaining physical health and perhaps years of financial recovery; Leigh fell ill as the family was in the process of obtaining health insurance for her, and the couple’s medical bills are massive.
Friends are organizing a benefit concert and have established an account in the family’s name.
For now, however, Van Calvez is focused on his wife’s survival.
“She’s a stubborn, strong, tough person,” he said. “This was the fight of her life and she’s going to make it.”
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A benefit auction and concert for Leigh and Van Calvez will be held 7-10 p.m. Nov. 12 at Island Center Hall. There is a $15 donation; call 842-2306 or email bmorgan@bainbridge.net. An account at Kitsap Credit Union is open for donations; make checks to Leigh Calvez or Calvez Family Fund. Funds may be transferred by calling (800) 422-5852.
