TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 2021
BAKER CITY HERALD — A3
LOCAL
MIRACLE
QUESTIONS
Continued from A1
Continued from A1
“It happened really fast,”
Kara said. “Crazy.”
The Leggetts, who will
celebrate their 20th wedding
anniversary on Nov. 23, have
five children — daughter
McKenzie, 18; daughter Mady,
16; son Brigham, 15; daughter
Kara Leggett/Contributed Photo
Annie, 13 (she turns 14 on
The Leggett family, from left: Annie, Brigham, Kara
Nov. 24); and baby son Bryson, (holding Bryson), Anthony, Mady and McKenzie.
who will celebrate his first
And it’s a point at which
birthday in December.
started after working for 15
Anthony himself can help to
years at Old West Federal
tell his own story.
Credit Union in Baker City.
Inside the ICU
Of course he doesn’t
Kara knows how fortunate
Anthony was admitted
remember the weeks when he
her family is.
to the intensive care unit at
was in a coma.
Anthony, she said, had
Saint Alphonsus in Boise.
But Anthony said he also
Doctors put him in a medi- all three of the risk factors
that doctors told her make a has no recollection of the four
cally induced coma.
COVID-19 patient especially days before he collapsed in his
Kara stayed in a hotel.
kitchen on Aug. 22.
vulnerable — diabetes, high
She waited.
The last thing he remem-
“We just waited every day blood pressure and excessive
weight.
bers, before waking up in the
to get updates,” she said.
While Anthony was in the hospital many weeks later, is
Eventually — she doesn’t
hospital, she said, COVID-19 going to Bi-Mart in Baker City
recall how many days
passed — she was able to see patients as young as 37 died. to get his first vaccine dose.
Others died who had only
Anthony.
A dose he knows now was
Walking through the ICU one risk factor.
too late. The virus had already
“Anthony is blessed, I guess begun its terrible work.
was disturbing.
“ICU is different than you is the right word, to still be
With Thanksgiving and
Christmas coming soon, as
think, especially with COVID here,” Kara said.
One of the moments she
well as his 20th wedding anni-
patients,” Kara said. “It’s a lot
to take in, watching people try remembers most clearly is
versary and his daughter An-
to live. They were the sickest that day in October when
nie’s 14th birthday, Anthony
hospital workers wheeled the is thrilled with the prospect of
patients.”
being home for each of those
And Anthony, she said, was ventilator out of Anthony’s
room.
events.
the sickest of all.
“That was a huge victory
“I’ve got a lot of motivation
He remained in the medi-
— a miracle,” Kara said.
to get home,” he said. “I miss
cally induced coma for more
She was finally able to see my own bed.”
than two weeks.
He’s optimistic that he’ll
When doctors decided that Anthony’s face.
What she saw shocked her, soon be sleeping there for
Anthony’s condition had im-
the first time in almost three
proved enough, they brought despite her joy.
“When they took the mask months.
him out of the coma.
off him, I stood back,” Kara
Anthony said he’s length-
But Kara, and their chil-
ened his walks — he uses a
dren, couldn’t see him due to said. “He had lost so much
weight, about 100 pounds.”
walker as an aid — from 15
COVID-19 restrictions.
Unfortunately, she said,
steps when he arrived at the
And before those were
that included a considerable rehab center to 230 steps.
lifted, Anthony’s condition
“Progress is good,” he said.
worsened. While doctors were amount of muscle mass.
With his muscles atrophied
Particularly considering
weaning him from the ventila-
tor that had kept him alive, he during his motionless weeks that when he was awakened
from his second coma, An-
was “overbreathing,” she said in a coma, including the
muscles he needs to swallow thony was, he said, “basically a
— breathing too rapidly.
quadriplegic.”
Doctors again put Anthony and to talk, Anthony had a
considerable amount of reha-
“I couldn’t move a finger,”
into a coma.
he said. “Now, I can take a
“They take a step forward, bilitation ahead of him.
“He tried to talk, but with shower, I can brush my teeth.
then it’s way far back,” Kara
said. “It’s up and down. When a tube in his mouth I couldn’t It’s nice not to be utterly de-
they call it long haul COVID, understand him,” Kara said. pendent on someone else.”
they’re not joking. You have to “It was just hard.”
Anthony said he continues to
start thinking about planning
suffer from a general weakness.
a funeral, which is horrible.”
But he has a full range of
Rehabilitation, and
motion in his extremities.
looking forward to the
And unlike many CO-
The recovery begins
holidays at home
Anthony remained in a
Over the next few weeks, VID-19 patients who had
life-threatening symptoms,
coma for another two weeks or Anthony was moved eight
Anthony said the doctors have
times.
so, well into September.
He went from one ICU to told him his lungs, kidneys
When doctors reawakened
another, and then to a general and other internal organs,
him for the second time, An-
thony started “overbreathing” unit at Saint Alphonsus, Kara which can sustain permanent
damage from the virus, seem
again, but doctors were able to said.
Once he was able to stand to be healthy.
improve his breathing and his
He still takes oxygen, but
on his own and take two
oxygen level.
Into October, Kara said, her steps, Anthony transferred to only at night.
“It’s an understatement
husband started to show more the rehabilitation center in
downtown Boise operated by to say I’m considered lucky to
significant improvement.
She began to believe that St. Luke’s and the Elks.
alive,” Anthony said. “To be able
That milestone, after
Anthony would survive, would
to go from basically given zero
Anthony had been in the
eventually return to their
chance to live to what I’m call-
home and their children and hospital for 72 days, happened ing basically a full recovery is
the new business he recently on Nov. 3.
nothing short of a miracle.”
Owens said the state does
not have the data it needs in
order to effectively manage
watersheds, groundwater, or
surface water for irrigation.
He said that in 2017, the
Oregon Water Resource De-
partment issued 159 ground-
water rights. But in 79% of
those, he said, it wasn’t clear
whether sufficient water was
actually available.
“The biggest threat is
over appropriation,” Owens
said. “We have to get that
data to effectively manage
water.”
The legislators also
took a question about their
thoughts on livestock graz-
ing on public land.
Findley said he believes
in public land grazing and in
making sure ranchers man-
age their animals to protect
the land.
“If you have a healthy vi-
able landscape — ecosystem
and landscape — it includes
both public and private land,
and the best fire break is
a grazed pasture,” Findley
said. “Not overgrazed but a
properly used pasture and
that’s the key.”
Bryan Tweit, the county’s
economic development
director, attended the town
hall and discussed the work-
force and housing crisis in
Baker County, calling it the
triple storm.
Tweit said restrictions
related to the pandemic
prompted some people to
move out of the county. In
addition, the state ban on
evictions, and higher rental
payments, have affected the
housing market.
“We physically lost the
bodies for the workforce
here,” Tweit said.
He estimated that five
restaurants in the county
have closed since the pan-
demic started. Two have
new owners that reopened,
a third is slated to reopen,
and a fourth is undergoing
renovations, he said.
“Way better than any
other county in the state,”
Tweit said. “But we don’t
have the physical bod-
ies here. You can drive all
over town and see signs
where businesses are closed
because they don’t have the
employees. Our employment
numbers are record lows in
Baker County.”
Tweit asked Findley
and Owens what solutions
they see coming down the
pipeline to help allow coun-
ties to incentivize builders or
contractors.
“I don’t have a magic
button for that, I don’t have
a magic bill,” Findley said.
“I personally introduced two
different pieces of legislation
to help landlords and I could
not get them out of commit-
tee. And I absolutely do not
know why not.”
“And so, the landlords
only recourse is ‘I’m getting
out of the landlord business.’
I don’t blame them. But we
have to work on housing,”
Findley said.
COVID
36 counties. The statewide
average is 77.9%.
The Baker County Health
Continued from A1
Department has scheduled a
drive-thru vaccination clinic
Vaccination
— for COVID-19 and for the
Baker County’s vaccina-
tion rate for residents 18 and flu, ages 12 and older — on
Friday, Nov. 19 from 9 a.m. to
older is 53.3%, the fifth-
lowest rate among Oregon’s 3 p.m. at the Baker County
CREDIT
— some would say the most
important piece — left of an
original three-part proposal
Continued from A1
intended to stabilize and
reform an industry upended
For anyone who follows
by the deadly trio of Google,
the challenges of media
Facebook and the pandemic.
companies and the reality of
The tax credit sunsets
growing news deserts around
in five years, giving media
the country, this temporary
tax credit known as the Local companies a reasonable
Journalism Sustainability Act timeframe to build a
sustainable business model
is a welcome relief that will
that supports local journalism
directly aid news-gathering
in the internet age. It also
organizations, including an
sends a message to young
estimated 113 newsrooms
people that journalism is a
in Oregon. It’s the only piece
Events Center, 2600 East St.
Participants should enter
from Campbell Street, to
the south.
Those attending who need
a flu shot should bring their
insurance information.
Those who are seeking a
booster dose for a COVID-19
Kara Leggett/Contributed Photo
Anthony Leggett begins to exercise his muscles,
atrophied after being in a medically induced
coma in late August and part of September due to
COVID-19 infection.
Regrets about waiting to
be vaccinated
Both Anthony and Kara
said they took COVID-19
seriously even before Anthony
became ill.
Kara said several of their
relatives had been vaccinated,
and the couple had discussed
doing so.
Kara said she wishes she
had done more research and
been more knowledgeable
about how Anthony’s health
issues made him so much
more susceptible to the virus.
“With COVID being so
politicized, I didn’t want to be
afraid of it, but I didn’t know
what to trust or believe,”
Kara said. “I didn’t think of
Anthony being at such high
risk.”
Anthony said he was “tak-
ing a wait and see approach”
about being vaccinated.
But he berates himself
now for paying attention to
claims about the dangers of
vaccines from what he con-
cedes are unreliable sources.
“Like an idiot I listened to
a lot of what social media was
saying,” Anthony said.
Kara said she and
Anthony initially believed
COVID-19 arrived in their
household after their daugh-
ter, Mady, attended a volley-
ball tournament in Idaho.
But they later determined
that they were exposed dur-
ing the week of the Baker
County Fair in early August.
Although Anthony admits
that his attitude has obvious-
ly been influenced by his own
experience — “I wouldn’t wish
this on anybody,” he said —
he said he also understands
better how doctors and other
medical professionals, includ-
ing those who helped save
his life, have tried to convince
people that COVID-19 is dan-
gerous and that vaccination
can significantly reduce the
risk of serious illness or death.
Community support
overwhelming
Kara and Anthony said
they have been gratified by
the support they’ve received
from the community.
That support has been
both financial — a fund-
raiser dinner took place Nov.
11 — but also in the form of
phone messages asking how
Anthony is doing.
“I’ve always known that
this was a great area to live,”
Anthony said. “There’s a
high quality of people here.
I’ve been truly humbled by
how people genuinely care
about each other. More than I
understood. We’re lucky to be
where we are.”
And now, with the prospect
of seeing his home for the first
time since the dog days of Au-
gust, Anthony is eager. And he
struggles to find the words to
thank the doctors, nurses and
others who have helped him
through an ordeal he couldn’t
have conceived of.
“I’m super excited to get
out of the hospital after so
long,” he said. “The people at
Saint Al’s, Saint Luke’s, they
are miracle workers.
“I have a lot of things I
want to be home for.”
vaccine should bring their
vaccine card.
People who want to
make an appointment for a
child age 5 to 11 to have a
COVID-19 vaccine can call
the Health Department at
541-523-8211 to schedule an
appointment.
Breakthrough cases
The county’s number of
breakthrough cases — in-
fections in people who are
fully vaccinated — also
dropped during the week of
Oct. 31-Nov. 6. Two of the 20
cases that week were break-
through — 10%.
career worth pursuing where
there will be jobs available
with those companies
that make the successful
transition.
Numerous studies show
what happens in communities
where there’s no profession-
ally trained journalists asking
questions and accurately
reporting on what is happen-
ing at a local level: Govern-
ment waste and potential for
corruption by public officials
increases, voter turnout
drops and communities find
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it harder to solve their own
problems. News deserts create
democracy deserts, especially
in rural communities.
If you are reading this
and want to help, email our
Oregon congressional delega-
tion and let them know you
support keeping the Local
Journalism Sustainability Act
temporary tax credit in the
budget reconciliation package.
U.S. Senate
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“I would recommend
going to talk to a competent,
trusted medical professional,”
he said. “Start listening
to medical professionals. I
talked to a bunch of doctors
and nurses and they’re really
trying to save people. It’s
your body — but you need to
take care of it.”
Kara said that although
she opposes vaccine man-
dates, she recognizes the
benefits of vaccination.
“A lot of people didn’t see
COVID for what it really
is — it’s a killer for some of
the people who have these
issues,” she said. “People like
my husband.”
U.S. Sen. Jeff Merkley:
senator@merkley.senate.gov
mail.house.gov
U.S. Rep. Kurt Schrader
(District 5): kurt.schrader@
mail.house.gov
U.S. House of
Representatives
U.S. Rep. Suzanne Bonami-
Heidi Wright is the COO
ci (District 1): congresswoman- of EO Media Group, which
owns the Baker City Herald,
bonamici@mail.house.gov
U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz
the publisher of The Bulle-
(District 2): cliff.bentz@mail.
tin, and serves as treasurer
house.gov
for America’s Newspapers,
U.S. Rep. Earl Blumenauer
an industry group repre-
(District 3): earl.blumenauer@
senting more than 1,600
mail.house.gov
newspapers across the coun-
U.S. Rep. Peter DeFazio
try. Email her at hwright@
(District 4): peter.defazio@
eomediagroup.com.
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