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Lane County's collective loss from COVID-19: Each victim has a story

Jill and Todd were married for 32 and a half years before he died with complications from COVID-19. "We adored each other," she said.
Tiffany Eckert
/
KLCC
Jill and Todd were married for 32 and a half years before he died with complications from COVID-19. "We adored each other," she said.

Over the last two years, more than 500 Lane County residents have died with COVID-19. At this point in the pandemic-- public health officials say it’s time to pause and acknowledge our collective loss. Every victim had a name and a story and it's important to remember, each one leaves behind loved ones who continue to grieve.

Jill Carver met Todd Busby in high school. “In study hall we could opt to play checkers if we wanted” she remembered, “so he started asking me to play checkers and that was the start of it.”

They fell in love and married in 1988, had two sons, Bryce and Drew. And moved to the country outside of Junction City. Smiling she said, “We had a lot of happiness. A very happy marriage. A very good marriage."

Jill says Todd was a cinema fan and named their chickens after starlets like Audrey Hepburn. Their rooster was called "The Dude."
Tiffany Eckert
/
KLCC
Jill says Todd was a cinema fan and named their chickens after starlets like Audrey Hepburn. Their rooster was called "The Dude."

Todd loved to work in the garden. Jill recalled how he and a good buddy of his built a chicken coop. “Todd was really into movies so when we first got our chickens, he named all of them after different actresses,” Jill said. “We did have one rooster called 'The Dude,'" named after the iconic character from the Cohen Brothers’ movie The Big Lebowski.

Todd had recently bought a new camper trailer. They planned to travel in retirement. Instead, the trailer became a quarantine space when COVID-19 entered their household.

One of their sons was first to get sick—it was Thanksgiving 2020. Jill explained “a little more than 72 hours later I started coming down with symptoms myself. Kind of in the middle of that night I woke up and I knew I had COVID. So, of course we kept Todd as safe as we could.”

Jill said Todd was always susceptible to respiratory illnesses. They decided he would stay out in the camper.

Todd bought this camper trailer with the hopes and plans of traveling after he and Jill retired, Now, Jill says it may be too much to handle alone.
Tiffany Eckert
/
KLCC
Todd bought this camper trailer with the hopes and plans of traveling after he and Jill retired, Now, Jill says it may be too much to handle alone.

“Lane County Public Health, one of my friends who’s a nurse, indicated that I was no longer contagious,” she said. “So, at that point he came back into the house. He was fine.”

But a few days later, Jill came home from her job with the Bethel School District and found Todd in bed with a fever. She started doing the math. “I thought, ok you know it’s December 15th. He’ll be feeling better by December 25. But then-- let’s add on a few days because it’s Todd.”

Todd moved back into the trailer. Days passed. While trying to do some holiday shopping, Jill was notified of Todd’s positive test results. That night, he’d become too breathless to walk and needed to get to hospital.

“He was at McKenzie Willamette from the 20th until he was transported via life flight to Oregon Health and Science University on New Year’s Eve,” she said.

Todd had been placed on a ventilator, but Jill held onto hope. During here many previous visits to OHSA, she’d seen how Todd’s oxygenation and blood pressure were stabilizing. On a beautiful January morning, Jill got a call from the hospital checking on her ETA. She rode to Portland with her parents.

Driving out to Jill and Todd's Junction City property, the clouds were astounding.
Tiffany Eckert
/
KLCC
Driving out to Jill and Todd's Junction City property, the clouds were astounding.

“I didn’t ever think he wasn’t going to make it,” Jill said. “But unfortunately, what was happening in his lungs wasn’t healing. The COVID had just taken over and his organs started shutting down.”

When she got to Todd’s room, Jill could tell something was different. There were a lot of doctors everywhere. She didn’t need to be told what to do. She put on the full personal protective equipment.

“When I was done, I asked the nurse, her name was Lisa, if I could go in. And she said, ‘yes, yes please go in quickly.’ So I went in and I held him and just talked to him and that’s when he passed away, four minutes later. So, he knew I was there. I’m sure he knew I was there.”

Jill remains grateful to the nurse who removed her husband’s wedding ring and made sure she got it. She wears it around her neck as we walk along “Todd’s Trail,” a path he made on their Junction City property.

Jill wears Todd's wedding ring around her neck every day.
Tiffany Eckert
/
KLCC
Jill wears Todd's wedding ring around her neck every day.

“Good thing you wore your boots,” Jill said as we entered the gate and started up the trail. ”In the summertime, I put a chair right here and I talk to Todd. The dogs would just run, That’s Mary’s Peak over there in the distance. It’s a very peaceful place to be. It’s very quiet.” The reporter noted, "there’s snow on Mary’s Peak.”

Jill said it’s been hard to make any sense of what happened. How a virus could take so much from her family and so many others’.

This feeling is understood by people with Lane County Public Health. Spokesperson Jason Davis said we’ve all suffered in different ways through the pandemic, but the hardest toll has been the loss of more than 500 community members who died too soon.

“And without any other message from Public Health-- about prevention or about vaccination or anything else-- we would like to just pause and remember those individuals,” he said. “Remember what they brought to our community, what they brought to their friends, what they brought to their family and acknowledge that loss.”

Todd Busby 09/11/1962 - 01/11/2021
Todd Busby family
Todd Busby 09/11/1962 - 01/11/2021

“I want Todd to be remembered. And I want all COVID victims to be remembered,” Jill said. “And that’s something, I find right now- you know as we move- as we transition in this pandemic. You know, there’s this sentiment that everybody’s so happy to be back together. But there’s no acknowledgement of what happened, of the loss. So, I really appreciate you taking the time and Lane County Public Health for remembering COVID victims.”

Todd Brian Busby and his pup.
Jill Carver Busby
Todd Brian Busby and his pup.

Todd Brian Busby died on January 11, 2021. He was 58 years old.

If you have experienced the loss of a loved due to COVID-19, you can share your story with Lane County Health and Human Services.
If you have experienced the loss of a loved one due to COVID-19, you can share your story with Lane County Health and Human Services.

If you’ve been affected by a death related to COVID-19 and would like to share a remembrance, you can direct message Lane County Health and Human Services on their Facebook page.

Tiffany joined the KLCC News team in 2007. She studied journalism at the University of Missouri-Columbia and worked in a variety of media including television, technical writing, photography and daily print news before moving to the Pacific Northwest.