Mystery illness sends Chandler ICU nurse to the hospital

By BRITTNI THOMASON

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    CHANDLER, Arizona (KPHO, KTVK) — From helping others to needing help herself, a Chandler ICU nurse who has spent more than a year saving COVID patients found herself in the ICU with a mystery illness. Danielle Lucas’ husband, Chris, said she started having chest pain on July 13.

“She called 911, and as soon as she hung up the phone, she looked up at me and had a weird look on her face, and all of a sudden, she passed out and became unresponsive,” said Chris.

An ambulance took the mom of three to the hospital, and she went on a ventilator and stayed in the ICU for days.

“She also suffered from a stroke during the same time, so basically cardiac arrest and a stroke,” said Chris. He said her COVID tests came back negative, and doctors still can’t figure out what caused her medical issues.

“It’s so frustrating not having any type of answer and not knowing how to prevent this from happening again,” said Chris.

Danielle finally came home this week, but the family said it would be a while before she fully recovers. That’s why her sister, Andrea Schupe, set up this GoFundMe page.

“She takes care of the community,” said Schupe. “That’s what her field is. She is in there taking care of people who are sick, taking care of very critically ill patients, who need her strength and her smarts to get them through what they’re going through, and now she’s on the other end of it, on the receiving end where she needs to be taken care of, and she has done so much in the last decade for the community, we want to pay it back to her.”

“Send prayers,” said Chris. “That’s the biggest thing for her recovery.”

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