Lee County deputy’s wife prays for his recovery from COVID-19 after hospitalization

Reporter: Gail Levy Writer: Jack Lowenstein
Published: Updated:
Wife and husband Michele and Deputy Sgt. Steve Drum. Credit: Shared with WINK News.

A Lee County deputy’s wife is praying her husband will return home from the ICU soon.

Deputy Sgt. Steve Drum was hospitalized for COVID-19 earlier in August, where he remained Wednesday.

Drum is in the hospital on a ventilator. His case of COVID-19 has required him to have a tracheotomy and a feeding tube.

Wife Michele Drum told us that’s the only way doctors hope to save his life.

Sgt. Drum loves his job and his family. It shows in all the family pictures they have.

“We got a granddaughter on the way in October, and I want him to be able to hold her,” Michele said. “He needs to be here with his family.”

Sgt. Drum’s hospitalization for COVID-19 has presented his family with plenty of ups and downs.

“One day, there’s hope,” Michele said. “And we had, about a week and a half ago, they were ready to move him into long-term care and start rehabilitation, and then, he took a turn for the worst.”

Thanks to technology, staff at the hospital makes sure Michele sees her husband.

“Wanting to see him move, I guess, when he heard my voice, but it’s a very emotional thing,” Michele said. “It’s very up and down.”

Michele says they’re not the only law enforcement family feeling this pain.

“I believe he got it from work,” Michele said. “There’s so many there that are sick, and he’s out in the community every day. I’m pretty sure he had passed it on to me.”

Neither Michele or Sgt. Drum have been vaccinated for COVID-19. Michele recently recovered from her own experience with COVID-19 and pneumonia. She spent three days in the hospital.

“I came home with oxygen,” Michele said. “I just was able to go off of it.”

Many law enforcement agencies are experiencing COVID-19 surges. In Charlotte County, 30 deputies are out sick, and we learned a Fort Myers Police Department dispatcher and a Lee County deputy both died of COVID-19 recently.

Michele hopes her husband gets off a ventilator, so he can one day hold their new grandchild.

“I just ask for prayers for him to come home, for him to get better, and just I want to see him,” Michele said. “I miss him so much.”

Copyright ©2024 Fort Myers Broadcasting. All rights reserved.

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without prior written consent.