OMAHA, Neb. —

A Nebraska native nearly lost both her parents to COVID-19 at the same time.

Traci Pribyl, of Omaha, was on a ventilator for a month. Her husband, Robert, was in a hospital bed of his own trying to fight off the virus.

A routine doctor's appointment for 71-year-old Robert Pribyl led to a COVID-19 diagnosis. It was early November. His doctor asked him to come back a couple of days later for a check-up, then immediately admitted him to the hospital.

"I felt weak, real weak,” he said.

Little did he know, his 55-year-old wife Traci was home alone with the virus, and deteriorating fast.

Their daughter flew in from Florida when Traci stopped answering texts.

She had a nurse come by to give her mom an IV.

“She had given Traci fluids and they said her vitals were horrible and so she called the squad. I believe that is what saved her life,” Robert said.

Traci was rushed to the ER. Both Pribyls were now in the hospital fighting the virus.

“I just told her, I said, 'mom, you're not doing so good. And I need you to be strong for me, because I’m trying, and I can't hold it together. But they're going to have to put you to sleep. Your body needs to rest,” Kirstin Pribyl said.

Traci spent the next month on a ventilator.

Kirstin said it was moment by moment for both parents.

"It is so traumatic. I just can’t stress that enough. It's very traumatic to watch this, to go through this, to make these decisions. I definitely thought that my world was going to start crashing down on me,” Kirstin said.

Robert went home in two weeks. Traci was released Dec. 6.

Even though he's older, Robert believes he was better off because of one thing.

“She was not vaccinated, and I was,” Robert said. “But I am now,” Traci added.

“They say it's not so bad if you're vaccinated. You can still catch it but you don’t have the severity of the disease,” Robert said.

Traci said she wasn't sure about the vaccine and held off on getting it. She said that decision was “stupid.”

“I don’t want to say I was cocky and invincible and that it wouldn’t happen to me, because everybody’s number is going to be pulled at some point, but I just didn’t realize it would be this bad and I would be in delirium,” she said.

She said doctors told her it could take up to two years to fully recover. She said she doesn’t remember even taking Robert to the hospital, nor the entirety of her illness, until doctors were taking the tube out of her body.

She's still waiting for her voice to come back.

They encourage others to just get the shot.

Doctors removed Greg Frost from that ventilator a year ago this week, Dec. 6, 2020.Sister station KETV followed the journey of the COVID-19 survivor, who is now back to work full time.But he admits he is far from being back to normal."My family, all my friends, coworkers they all look at me and say, 'You're a walking miracle," Greg Frost said.One year ago, Frost, 55, couldn't walk. He was learning how to breathe on his own again, after being in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator for four weeks. He contracted COVID-19 around Halloween last year. "It's been a struggle, gaining my strength and stuff like that," he said.Recovery for the MUD plant worker hasn't been easy. "He came home in a wheelchair and he needed help with basically everything, and now he's back to 99%," Greg's daughter, Haley Frost, said. Frost and his family have learned how to celebrate the small victories, like being able to tie his own shoes."I'm not gonna be a quitter, anybody can quit. It takes time to climb the mountain, to get to the top," he said.Pulmonologists say that climb can be slow and can take years; typically one day on a ventilator means one week of rehabilitation."It's a much longer time you are fighting for your life," said Dr. Daniel Hershberger with Nebraska Medicine. "With that time, that duration exhausts the body, you have no reserve left. It does make a big impact months, even years down the road."Hershberger said the chance of survival after being on life support is 50-50.Frost thought he was going to be the other statistic."Two guys asked me, 'When you were in that state of mind and put out did you see the light?' and I said, 'Oh yeah, yeah, I seen it,'" Frost said. "You can go to the light. I seen it but I just couldn't get up and go.""It was that close. It makes you wonder if something was holding him back, like all of us here, that's why he's still with us today," Haley Frost said.Now that Frost is back to work full time, he also appreciates time with his family. He also admits it's also been mentally tough, but he knows he's a survivor. "Some days can be very, very difficult, but as long as I wake up another day, it's a very good day," he said. Hershberger said they are putting much younger people than Frost on ventilators, who are unvaccinated.Frost said there was no vaccine available for him when he got COVID-19 and doesn't understand why people would take the chance of ending up on life support."It's a free country, you can do what you want, but look at the alternative and what can happen to you. It will take your life if it gets bad enough, that's for sure," Frost said.

When Jonathan Johnson was in the hospital battling COVID-19, his nurses said his outlook wasn't always good.

"He was as sick as you could be without passing away," said Amy Waldstein, critical care nurse at Methodist Jennie Edmunson in Iowa.

But they said he was a fighter throughout the journey.

"It was admirable about how he fought the whole time, he did every possible thing he needed to do to get past COVID," Waldstein said.

Johnathan finally got off the ventilator and his condition improved, but before he left the hospital, he had another goal in mind.

"When I finally woke up from being on the ventilator for three and a half weeks, and I was feeling a little better, and was able to breathe, I thought to myself, you know, I want to marry this one," Jonathan said.

He wanted to surprise his fiancé Mariah, so Jonathan and his nurses started planning.

Critical care nurse Jenna Harvey said it was a little unorthodox.

"There was no flower girl. However, I did throw some petals here and there for them," Harvey said.

The couple had been engaged for more than a year and Mariah says when she went to the hospital, she had no idea what was in store for her.

"We get in there, he told me, and I was completely blown back," Mariah said.

Harvey said the couple needed to celebrate after Jonathan's long battle.

"It's something they both deserve after going through such a tragic time in their relationship," Harvey said.

While it wasn't the wedding the couple had planned.

"She wanted to do a Halloween theme wedding, but I didn't know how long I was gonna be in the hospital," Jonathan said.

Jonathan says surviving his battle gave him some new perspective.

"I didn't want to have any regrets because after coming off the ventilator, you view a lot of things differently in life," Jonathan said.

Watch the full story in the video above.

Millions of people rely on machines to help them with sleep disorders, but now some of the devices have been recalled because they could pose serious health problems.

Baltimore sister station WBAL-TV reported many people are having difficulties getting replacements, and what a Maryland man did to protect his health.

Charles Mercer believes his machine helped change his life.

"My wife always complained about me snoring, and then she said, 'You know, you actually stop breathing at night,'" Mercer said.

Mercer suffers from sleep apnea, and the device he uses is designed to keep him breathing without any pauses while he sleeps. Mercer has had it for less than a year, and now he worries it could cause him harm.

"I could see if I had broken it or misused it — none of that. It was working fine," Mercer said.

Mercer stopped using his DreamStation in June after Philips, the manufacturer, announced a voluntary recall of certain continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP), bilevel positive airway pressure (BiPap) and ventilator machines.

WBAL checked with Northwest Hospital and other places that help patients who have sleep disorders.

"It's very scary. We have a lot of patients concerned. We hear about it from patients who come to our sleep labs," said Sarah Tencza, with respiratory and sleep services at Northwest Hospital.

Philips lists the recalled machines on its website and explains the foam used to reduce sound and vibration may break down.

According to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, black debris from the foam or certain chemicals released into the device's air pathway may be inhaled or swallowed. Nationwide, the FDA said there have been more than 1,200 complaints and more than 100 injuries reported.

Exposure to the debris or chemicals could cause health issues, including skin, eye and respiratory irritation; headaches; asthma; nausea; and it could also impact the kidneys, liver or potentially cause cancer, according to the FDA.

"Normally, when things break, you have a recall and the company fixes it just like a car," Mercer said.

But the company said it has no quick fix.

In an email, Mario Fante, senior press officer for the Philips Global Press Office, wrote: "We fully understand the impact this is having on patients. Our priority is to replace the foam in all affected devices either by repair or replacement. We are unable to provide an immediate solution at this time."

Philips estimates 3 million to 4 million units are in use globally — about half of which are in the United States. The company said it has "increased production of repair kits and replacement devices" to 55,000 a week and hopes to increase that capacity to 80,000.

But the company can't send them out yet. It's still waiting for regulatory clearance from the FDA.

Meanwhile, Philips advises against using the affected CPAP and BiPap machines and suggests users consulting their doctor.

Dr. Jennifer So, the University of Maryland Sleep Lab's director, said patients definitely need to talk to their physicians about their best options "to see if the small risks from foam degrading and not using the machine is greater than the benefits they may get from being able to sleep and breathe at nighttime and maintain oxygen saturation."

So said in some cases, not using the machines can lead to uncontrolled blood pressure and heart and lung problems.

"I'm scared to use this one. They said, 'Use it if you want at your own risk.' I said, 'I don't know about that,'" Mercer said.

Mercer said he did register his BiPap machine online as Philips requested. When he stopped using his DreamStation, his wife didn't like it.

"I started going back to snoring. She was complaining. I said, 'I got to do something,'" Mercer said, laughing.

To keep peace at home and protect his health, Mercer purchased a different machine from another company. Others have done the same, and that has caused a shortage of sleep apnea machines. Mercer now wonders if he'll get reimbursed the more than $1,700 he spent on the replacement.

"Sometimes, you look for justice. Sometimes, there is none. You just have to keep surviving," Mercer said.

Philips claimed using what's called an inline bacterial filter may help. Mercer didn't have much confidence in that solution. The FDA said it has no evidence of the safety or effectiveness of using that type of filter for mitigating foam risks.

Philips said people who use an affected ventilator should not stop using it and should consult their doctor.

CHICAGO, Ill. – A heartbreaking reality for patients hospitalized with coronavirus is being inaccessible to their families. Something as simple as a phone charger could turn into a lifeline.

Stephen Hefler, a 77-year-old retired Navy doctor, was not doing well.

“He wasn't eating. He wasn't drinking. He was starting to become slightly delirious and confused,” said his son, Jon.

Two days in a Florida intensive care unit and without a phone charger, the only connection to his family was about to end.

“That's when they said ‘Look, everything's crashing, he’s on full life support, he’s on a ventilator, he's on full dialysis because his kidneys have failed. You need to say goodbye,’” said Jon Hefler. “And we said well ‘how are we supposed to talk with him? His phone is dead.’”

Hefler’s nurse came to the rescue getting a charger from her home for him to use.

“I think it made all the difference,” said Hefler.

It’s something Megan Tress, a nurse practitioner has seen all too often.

“Probably every day, there’s at least one or two nurses on every unit trying to search for a cell phone charger,” she said.

Tress has since started collecting chargers, hundreds of them, all to be donated to hospitals around the country.

The nurse turned phone charger crusader says she’s already been able to distribute to hospitals in at least 10 states and will soon go nationwide.

“We now have a

Google form

that people can fill out if they want these for their hospital,” she said.

Tress has joined forces with Jon Hefler to help hospitals build up a stockpile of universal chargers.

“It turns out no hospitals anywhere provide chargers in the room because they never had to,” said Hefler.

They’re on track to raise $100,000 for the effort. The

mission

is to raise awareness and make sure every patient alone in an ICU and beyond has a chance to hear the voice of a loved one.

“So, if we could get 100,000 chargers out there to all hospitals and quarantine zones that need them, that would be a win,” said Hefler.

“And so, it really could be the difference between life and death,” said Tress.

After three weeks on a ventilator, twice considered the end for Dr. Hefler, he fought through and is now breathing almost completely on his own.

One remarkable up-shot of the coronavirus outbreak is that it is triggering extraordinary innovation and problem-solving. A team of engineers and scientists got together to produce a prototype of an emergency ventilator in just one week.

It was like a scene out of the 1995 real-life space thriller Apollo 13. A group of scientists sprang into action to address the looming crisis.

"Our team focused on a simple design of the emergency ventilator," says Bill King, a professor of engineering at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. "It's something that could be very scaled into production quickly to meet the needs that may come here in the next weeks and months."

More than 40 engineers, doctors, medical professionals, and designers worked around the clock for a week to produce the "Illinois RapidVent."

"It's a simple device it's a small smaller than a loaf of bread," says King.

Rashid Bashir, the dean of the Grainger college of engineering at the university and a professor of bioengineering, says the compactness of the device means it can be used almost anywhere.

"This is a portable device; it's handheld, and it runs off of the oxygen from an ICU room," explains Bashir. "It does not need electricity."

The prototype for the emergency ventilator has run for more than 75 hours and 175,000 breathing cycles.

"This design and the engineering knowledge we've created are available for free," says ???

Researchers say they hope it can serve as a stop-gap measure as manufacturers ramp up production of full-scale hospital-grade ventilators.

"Physicians, nurses, they're doing an amazing job," says Bashir. "Being at the frontline, I think we need to do all we can to support them, and that's what we're trying to do as engineers and scientists. We want to get the technologies in their hands so that they can help the patients."

The next step says researchers is to find partners and resources to seek FDA approval and produce the "Illinois RapidVent" for mass manufacturing.

CHICAGO, Ill. – Shortages of ventilators and personal protective equipment mean many healthcare providers are going into battle unarmed. It’s sparked a heated debate behind closed doors about balancing efforts to save patients versus exposing doctors and nurses to the virus.

Who lives? Who dies? Who gets priority to a ventilator? All complex questions health providers are being confronted with.

“We've never had this situation before. This is unprecedented,” said Craig Klugman a professor of bioethics at DePaul University in Chicago.

Bioethicists say widespread infection, protective equipment and ventilator shortages are creating unique ethical dilemmas for healthcare workers.

“We will start to care for the person who is at risk of dying first,” explained Dr. Ricardo Gonzalez-Fisher, a surgical oncologist who teaches healthcare ethics at Metropolitan State University of Denver. “But if we have more people than resources that we have to. Try to save those that are savable.”

“The obligation for a healthcare provider to treat the patient doesn't necessarily have a limit,” said Klugman.

In Spain, some 13,000 medical workers have been infected. In Italy, more than 60 workers have died since the outbreak began.

“It's not just their life. They can assume this risk for themselves,” said Klugman. “If they don’t have the right equipment, they also have the risk of infecting other patients, other healthcare providers. Their family.”

Some health systems around the country are reportedly discussing unilateral do-not-resuscitate policies. It’s something that was debated during the Ebola outbreak in 2015.

Determining who gets treatment and who does not is something Klugman says is taken very seriously.

“We think about it very carefully and with great deliberation.”

In Italy, that meant denying some care to the elderly in favor of the young.

Klugman says in Illinois, a pandemic flu plan created a decade ago includes care procedures built around ethical frameworks and algorithms that help decide who should for example, get a ventilator.

“We have to consider things like what is our most important value. So, the value that we're considering is maximizing the number of years of life that we can save,” said Klugman.

Ultimately, a balance must be struck.

“You have to make sure that the benefit of the patient overrides the harm or the risk that you're getting in,” said Dr. Gonzalez-Fisher.

Otherwise, bioethicists say there may not be enough first responders to treat the infected.

“When you call 9-1-1 because your loved one can't breathe, there will be nobody coming. That's the worst-case scenario,” said Klugman.