Support pours in for family ravaged by COVID

A Medicine Hat man whose father died of COVID-19 on New Year’s Eve is just now out of ICU after battling the disease himself for more than a month.

And now co-workers and friends of Neil Jangula and his partner Donna Mayer are rallying around the couple who are both still in hospital.

A go-fund-me online fundraiser had brought in about $8,000 from local donors on Wednesday afternoon after it was created by family friends Cal and Kendra Griscowsky.

“This terrible disease changed a family in what seemed like an instant,” reads the rationale behind the fundraiser. “This occurred right in our own backyard so to speak, right here in Medicine Hat and could have happened to any one of us.”

The fundraising page states that Neil Jangula began exhibiting symptoms in late December after visiting his father, John, who was battling the disease in a local longterm care facility.

John Jangula died on Dec. 31, three days after his son was admitted to hospital to be incubated for the next 23 days.

Mayer remains in intensive care after going into hospital on Jan. 6.

It further states Mayer’s situation is complicated by the fact she previously suffered from lung disease, lupus and arthritis. Jungula has lost a significant amount of weight and now shows extensive lung damage, which makes a return to work in the shortterm doubtful.

Neil Jangula worked as a conductor with CP Rail, while John was a member of the CP Pensioner’s Club in Medicine Hat.

The Teamsters Rail Conference local in Medicine Hat, No. 322, sent the message to its members this week asking for donations to help expenses and potential future care.

Ron Peters is a vice-president with the union local, and called Jangula “a great guy to work with and a fantastic person inside and outside of work.”

“I’m not a big fan of masks or all the hoopla around COVID,” he told the News. “But to have someone you work with go through this, it’s serious.”

Peters made a personal donation of $500 to the fund, and said he is seeing a number of current and retired CP workers on the growing list of donors.

“I think a lot of railroaders will be stepping up,” he said.

According to Alberta Health, 14 deaths in Medicine Hat have been attributed to the coronavirus. More than 500 cases have been diagnosed here since the pandemic began last winter.