Navy veteran Steve Hefler's family is raising money to put cellphone chargers in hospitals so quarantined patients can stay in contact with loved ones.

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Recovering from the coronavirus can be a long and difficult road.

Just ask longtime pediatrician and Navy veteran Steve Hefler, who has been fighting for his life for 25 days in Sarasota Memorial Hospital’s COVID-19 critical care unit. Except you can’t ask him — because he, like all COVID-19 patients, is quarantined.

But the isolation caused by quarantine can be a difficult reality for many patients and their families to cope with, which is why Hefler’s son, Jonathan, set up a GoFundMe page for cellphone chargers that are “desperately needed in every hospital.”

Quarantine means no visitors. So in most cases, a mobile phone may be a patient’s only source of communication with their family during a crucial period of their lives. And while patients are usually allowed to keep phones in their rooms, hospitals cannot provide chargers.

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Hefler’s mobile phone battery went dead on his second day of quarantine, according to the GoFundMe, which is the same day he had to be fully sedated because his organs were failing.

If it were not for a nurse, he would have lost all contact.

“Thanks to the selfless act of a nurse donating their own personal charger, my father has been able to hear the voices of his loved ones encouraging him not to give up the fight,” wrote Jonathan on the GoFundMe website.

But if everybody chips in, situations of total isolation can be avoided.

“For under $10, we can make sure one quarantined ICU (Intensive Care Unit) bed has a multifunctional cellphone charger (that will charge ALL major smartphone brands) for patients to use as they fight for their lives against COVID-19 — and there were approximately 70,000 ICU beds nationwide before this pandemic began,” reads the description of the fundraiser.

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So far the campaign has raised more than $33,000 toward a $100,000 goal.

For Jonathan and the rest of the family, the charger donated by the nurse made all the difference. Even in his unconscious state, every time he hears his grandchildren’s voices over the phone, his blood pressure rises and it pushes him to keep fighting, Jonathan wrote on the website. He’s gone from needing chest compressions to keep his heart pumping to “clawing his way slowly back to life.”

As of Sunday, April 19, Hefler’s vital signs began returning to normal levels, with him nodding and moving his arms more.

Just a few days later on Thursday, April 23, the team at Sarasota Memorial Hospital celebrated Hefler’s progress, which saw him transition into a step-down unit Thursday afternoon. The health workers honored the moment by singing his favorite song, “Country Roads” by John Denver while his family joined via FaceTime.

Hefler was admitted to Sarasota Memorial Hospital on March 28 and has been in the intensive care unit since the 29th.

“We speak to him every single day, multiple times a day, to encourage him and keep him fighting hard. Every Covid patient deserves this bare minimum love and support,” reads the GoFundMe page.

That wouldn’t be possible without the kindness of a nurse and her donation, which prompted them to ask the question.

“But how many other critical patients everywhere, in horrific struggles for their lives, have no way of communicating or hearing their loved ones’ voices? How many critically unstable patients are on hospital ships, in makeshift quarantine buildings, and in overwhelmed ICUs everywhere — all with no way to connect — simply because of something as minor as a smartphone running out of battery?”

For more information on how you can help, visit their GoFundMe campaign.