Coronavirus Florida: Bradenton retiree dies at Sarasota Memorial after nightmare cruise

Zac Anderson
Sarasota Herald-Tribune

Tom Sheehan was a family man, a prankster with a larger than life personality and a proud Irish American.

The Bradenton retiree loved celebrating St. Patrick’s Day, spending time with his 11 grandchildren, practical jokes and travel.

It was that last love that led to Sheehan’s death Saturday at Sarasota Memorial Hospital.

Sheehan, 68, died of complications from COVID-19. He is the second person to die of the disease at Sarasota Memorial, and the third in Sarasota County.

It appears that Sheehan contracted COVID-19 on a cruise that turned into a nightmare for the passengers involved. Multiple passengers from the Costa Luminosa have died and dozens have tested positive for the virus.

“In his retirement years he enjoyed seeing the world and that’s what ultimately led to the downfall,” Kevin Sheehan, one of Tom Sheehan’s three children, said in an interview with the Herald-Tribune Sunday.

Tom Sheehan was on a ventilator for a week in Sarasota Memorial’s Intensive Care Unit before succumbing to the disease at 8:51 p.m. on Saturday, according to Kevin Sheehan.

Sarasota Memorial confirmed Sunday that the hospital had a second COVID-19 death.

Kevin Sheehan wrote on Facebook about his father’s experience with COVID-19, documenting his steep decline in a series of posts and the heart-wrenching experience of saying goodbye on Friday by speakerphone because he could not visit him in the hospital.

“I have to say again how terrible this virus can be for some,” Sheehan wrote. “My siblings, myself and our cousin were just on a call on speaker where my father's lovely nurse Michelle at Sarasota Memorial Hospital made herself available so we could all say our final goodbyes to him. I hope with all my heart he got to hear our voices.”

Sheehan does not typically use social media much. But he said he wanted to convey how “lonely” the experience of having COVID-19 is for people, who must be isolated from their families. He also wanted to warn people to take the virus seriously.

“We have to take the whole political rhetoric on either side and throw it all away and just listen to what the doctors and the medical professionals are saying because they’re the ones trying to protect us,” Sheehan told the Herald-Tribune. “This is important. This is killing people. It’s killing a lot of people.”

Tom Sheehan’s ordeal began on March 5 when the Costa Luminosa left Port Everglades in Fort Lauderdale.

Kevin Sheehan described his father in one Facebook post as “stubborn as a goat.”

In the days leading up to March 5, members of Tom Sheehan’s family urged him not to go on the cruise.

By that time the ill-fated journey of the Diamond Princess cruise ship — which had hundreds of passengers test positive for coronavirus and multiple deaths while it was quarantined at a Japan port in February — already had been well publicized.

“We all were like, 'this is probably not the best idea dad, don’t go, don’t go,’ and his thought process was, we’ll be fine,’” Kevin Sheehan said, adding his dad perceived the problem to be more in Japan and that region of the world.

At that time the U.S. government had yet to issue a warning urging people not to take cruises.

Tom Sheehan and his wife Jill, Kevin Sheehan’s stepmother, got on the Costa Luminosa with their friends, a couple who live in the same Bradenton 55-and-older community.

The cruise ship had 1,400 passengers. It was bound for Venice, Italy, with stops in Antigua, Puerto Rico, Spain, the Canary Islands and France, according to a New York Times article.

“Three days later, an Italian woman was evacuated in Puerto Rico because she had symptoms of the coronavirus,” according to the Times article. “Her test results were delayed, and it took a week for the ship’s captain to enact strict sanitary protocols.”

The passenger who evacuated in Puerto Rico eventually died. Another passenger died in the Cayman Islands, according to the Times article.

Kevin Sheehan said his father told him that if the cruise ship operators had told passengers about the sick Italian woman before they got to Puerto Rico, he and his wife would have disembarked on the island and returned home immediately.

Tom Sheehan texted his son’s wife at the end of the journey and said “boy does this cruise line lie; we didn’t know anybody was sick.”

According to the Times article, the cruise ship passengers eventually were confined to their rooms. They sailed across the Atlantic Ocean. A Fox News article says officials in the Canary Islands, which is owned by Spain, barred the ship from docking there.

“Every time we got updates from my dad he was more and more concerned about what was going on on the ship,” Kevin Sheehan said. “He was kind of frantically texting me and my wife for updates.”

French officials eventually allowed the ship to dock in Marseille. Passengers told the Times that “the evacuation and journey back to the United States was more harrowing, chaotic and frightening than their ill-fated maritime voyage.”

American, Canadian and French passengers were allowed off the Costa Luminosa in Marseille on Thursday, March 19.

Kevin Sheehan said the passengers were packed in buses and kept there much of that Thursday. The Times article said the buses sat in an airport parking lot for five hours.

“It was a long day on the bus; they were all trapped together,” Sheehan said.

Some of the passengers who left the Costa Luminosa were tested for coronavirus. But The Times article said the Americans were allowed to leave before the test results were known. They took a red-eye flight overnight to Atlanta, arriving Friday morning, March 20.

Sheehan was surprised by what happened next. He said the cruise ship passengers were not tested or quarantined from others in the Atlanta airport when they arrived.

“We were thinking as soon as he got in the CDC’s gonna quarantine them because so many people are sick, but that didn’t happen,” Sheehan said. “My wife and I were shocked.”

Sheehan believes American officials working for the U.S. State Department and CDC did not fully understand what they were dealing with, saying they “didn’t know what they were getting in Atlanta, they didn’t know what was coming off the plane.”

Sheehan has since spoken to other passengers who were on the cruise ship with his father.

“You have this group of 100 people that were dumped literally in the main Atlanta airport to fend for themselves,” he was told, noting that the cruise ship passengers were walking around the airport, going to various locations to check on flights.

Sheehan’s father and stepmom flew into the Sarasota-Bradenton International Airport late on March 20 and went to the hospital the next day with their Bradenton friends who traveled on the cruise with them. Of the four, three of them were tested for coronavirus and all three tested positive.

Tom Sheehan never left the hospital. He was quickly put on a ventilator.

Kevin Sheehan’s Facebook posts describe his anguish as his dad’s condition deteriorated. His first post was on March 23.

“He is in critical condition on a ventilator,” Sheehan wrote. “He's medically paralyzed so his body won't fight the ventilator.”

“The only reason I'm posting this is so EVERYONE takes this seriously,” Sheehan added.

Sheehan posted another update on March 24, saying his dad was still in critical condition.

“The coronavirus creates a thick mucus layer in the lungs which makes it very hard for your body to get the oxygen it normally does,” Sheehan wrote.

Sheehan again pleaded for people to heed public health warnings.

“Please be safe and trust what the doctors are saying,” Sheehan wrote.

Later that evening Sheehan posted again, saying his dad had received hydroxychloroquine, an antimalarial drug that has received a lot of attention after a French study indicated some patients treated with it had positive results. But Sheehan said they had to stop giving his dad the drug because of side effects.

“I can't say enough how scary this virus is and how anyone that contracts it will feel so alone,” Sheehan added. “I'm actually grateful he's not awake for all this. The government would be foolish to remove the quarantine guidelines the (Centers for Disease Control) and (World Health Organization) recommend. What good is a strong economy if we all may lose a loved one to this virus. Be safe! Protect yourselves.”

Sheehan continued to document his dad’s downward spiral.

On March 25, Sheehan wrote: “Things are not going well. His lungs and kidneys are shutting down and the doctors are worried about his heart shutting down. They began dialysis today to filter the toxins from his blood.”

“I'm broken as I write this and waves of tears come and go throughout the day,” Sheehan continued on March 25. “I'm at a loss for words how I really feel but I think that telling the story will help others so I feel the need to keep posting so EVERYONE will heed the recommendations of the CDC and WHO instead of listening to politicians for advice.”

“I hope none of you or your families are touched personally by this virus,” he added. “Please do what you can to help others during these days. I want to personally thank the incredible medical team at Sarasota Memorial Hospital for the hard work they have been doing and the risk they themselves are taking. You all deserve medals.”

On March 26, Sheehan described his dad as “truly fighting for his life” and again urged people to follow public health warnings.

“Stay safe and steer clear of the people that aren't following safety protocols put forth for us all,” Sheehan wrote.

On March 27, Sheehan wrote a long post about saying goodbye to his dad.

“His whole body is shutting down and we told him it's ok to let go now,” Sheehan wrote.

Sheehan described his dad as “stubborn as a goat, always wore a devilish grin, loved to play practical jokes, had a wicked sense of humor and enjoyed being with family and friends.” He said his dad ended every conversation, even text message exchanges, with a “I love you.”

“He helped people in need and supported people to a fault,” Sheehan wrote. “Boy did he enjoy St. Patrick's Day and his Irish heritage. He loved his wife Jill. He loved his children Kevin, Megan, Ryan and Adam. He loved his grandkids, all 11 of them. He loved his extended family. He loved his friends. Most importantly, he will be missed by all of us. Love you Pops, with all of my heart.”

Sheehan attended high school in Illinois and lived in Oak Park outside of Chicago, working as a trader at the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and as a senior underwriter for Wells Fargo bank, before moving to the Sarasota area when he retired.

Kevin Sheehan said his dad and step mom were extremely active in their 55 and older community, helping to organize parties on New Year’s Eve, St. Patrick’s Day and other holidays.

Now his step mom is quarantined at home alone. Her sister, who lives in the same community, brings her food and drinks, leaving them on her doorstep. She seems to be getting better.

The entire experience has been disorienting for Kevin Sheehan, who lives in Sarasota and works in sales for a local company.

“This whole thing is just so surreal,” he said. “It’s like one of these plague movies you see out there, it’s just surreal.”

Acclaimed playwright Terrence McNally, 81, died Tuesday of COVID-19 at Sarasota Memorial Hospital. He was the first person to die of the disease in Sarasota County. An 82-year-old man died Thursday of COVID-19 at Venice Regional Bayfront Health.

As of Sunday morning there were 4,246 coronavirus cases in Florida, and 56 deaths. There were 50 cases in Sarasota County and 33 cases in Manatee County, which also has one death.

Kevin Sheehan said he especially wants to thank the medical workers who cared for his father. Two nurses and a doctor were in constant contact with updates.

“I only commend the risk that the Sarasota Memorial Hospital team is taking, their concern is care is absolutely amazing,” he said.