Skip to content

Brain Clots, ICU Gatekeeping, and a Promise to Speak

Day 2 · 6:13:37 · Shawn Buckley · Marylou Lavalle · James Freeland

  • 🧠 ER imaging showed his brain full of clots; he was intubated and life-and-limb transferred when Orange Ambulance was backlogged.
  • 🚫 COVID rules barred son Michael from ICU while a neurologist first asked about AstraZeneca, then called him “unlucky” CVST after Pfizer proof.
  • 🎤 Over five ICU days she promised Dominic she would be his voice so he would not become a silent statistic.

Hospital course, restricted access, and Marylou’s vow to speak for Dominic and others.

← Pfizer Shot, “Feeling Off,” and May 11 Seizure | Q&A: Did Doctors Document or Withdraw the Vaccine Link? →

Transcript

Shawn Buckley · 6:13:37

What happened at the hospital?

Marylou Lavalle · 6:13:40

Well, they allowed my son and I to go in, into the emergency, and, um, they told me he's being looked at and to wait here. Um, I called his family, his sisters, who we're so close to. They came rushing over to try to comfort me and make sense of what was going on. Um, I finally got some answers. The nurse came out to me and she called my name, Mrs. Laval, and I said, is he okay? And she said, your husband's in critical condition, he's intubated, and the doctor's going to speak to you very shortly. Took a deep breath. My son and his sister were geared to another room, and they said to me that your They did some CAT scans and he was just full of clots in his brain. They didn't have a neurologist to specialize in that.

Marylou Lavalle · 6:14:40

They had called Orange Ambulance to transport him as a life and limb. Um, they were too backlogged, there was no time for that, so he was transported, um, with, with life and limb paramedics to another hospital. In ICU. They got him stable as best they could. They told me to wait, and I asked if my son could come up. They said no, only yourself.

Shawn Buckley · 6:15:12

And this is COVID restrictions, correct?

James Freeland · 6:15:15

Yeah.

Shawn Buckley · 6:15:16

So Dominic is, is dying. He's being stabilized in his and his son Michael cannot come up.

Speaker R · 6:15:27

No.

Marylou Lavalle · 6:15:27

Stabilizing the son Sean, fighting for his life, intubated, couldn't breathe on his own. I still remember that room, 5A, and, um, I walked up. Somebody escorted me up. They spoke to me. They said, be prepared for what you're going to see. I took a deep breath. I held his hand and I said, I'm here and you're going to make it. And, uh, they, uh, were still doing a lot of assessments and they brought me into another room to, uh, to speak to me. And all I remember, um, is the neurologist came out shortly after to ask me some questions about symptoms. And I can recall one of the first things he, he had said to me, Ms. Laval, um, I have to ask you, did your husband receive AstraZeneca, but was he vaccinated?

Marylou Lavalle · 6:16:27

I didn't really even understand at that point why he was asking me that. I said, yes, we were vaccinated. He received the Pfizer shot 29 days ago. We got Pfizer.

Shawn Buckley · 6:16:39

Do you have proof of that?

Marylou Lavalle · 6:16:41

I said, well, I think so. I said, you know, and I remember sitting there in that waiting area tearing my wallet apart trying to find my receipt of the Pfizer vaccine, um, receipt. He left me be, let me look for it, came back running in a hurry. I gave it to him, he left, and he says, we'll talk to you in a little bit. And they let me stay in that room till they all came to speak with me.

Shawn Buckley · 6:17:16

Um, you had another conversation. I know that Dominic's non-responsive.

Marylou Lavalle · 6:17:20

No.

Shawn Buckley · 6:17:21

But you have another conversation with him in ICU and you promise him something. Can you share, share with us about that?

Marylou Lavalle · 6:17:28

So when the neurologist, um, you know, insinuated that it could have been AstraZeneca right then and there, it was etched in my brain. There was no way removing that. They, they just came to the conclusion that, um, he was an unlucky guy with bad luck, and CVST was something so rare that I had never heard of, but a lot more prominent with, with the individuals on the news, um, who, who had that exact plot with AstraZeneca. So why did that happen to him? I don't know. Why am I sitting here in front of you and he's not? I can't answer that. All I know is that those 5 days in ICU, I promised him I'm going to be his voice, and I'm going to be his voice to the end. And I made him a promise. Perhaps that's why I'm here today, to do that. And I'm grateful that I'm here to share my story and to tell you what I lost, because Dean, as you said it, they're not statistics.

Marylou Lavalle · 6:18:38

No one is. And I don't want my husband to be a statistic.

Marylou Lavalle · 6:18:42

Why?

Marylou Lavalle · 6:18:45

Because he mattered and he was a kind human being. And, uh, that's why I'm here. And, and silence is not what we need. And I feel like I've been silenced for 5 years, just with my thoughts and my loneliness and, and reflecting and trying to connect the dots. So I'm here today to be his voice. But everybody who can't be here today, I'm their voice because they're being heard. And I thank you because for the first time in 5 years, I'm being heard and I'm feeling acknowledged, and he's feeling acknowledged.