‘We have no idea how he got it.’ Family ‘floored’ by Bradenton man’s death from COVID-19

Roger Boudreau couldn’t wait to see Tom Brady in a Tampa Bay Buccaneers jersey but a simple dream will never be realized because COVID-19 took the Bradenton resident’s life on April 7. He was 52.

Boudreau, who was originally from Connecticut, moved to Florida in 1989 and was a big sports fan. Disabled due to cerebral palsy, Boudreau loved to play all kinds of sports. He swam in the Special Olympics.

While he had a disability, Boudreau was as healthy as they come. It’s one of several reasons his grieving family is grasping for understanding and telling the community to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously.

“We have no idea how he got it,” said Boudreau’s sister Sheri Claussen. “That’s what makes this so scary.”

It started with a stomachache, the only medical-related issue other than his cerebral palsy. Within a week, he would be dead, one of 19 Manatee County residents the state says have died from COVID-19, as of Thursday morning.

Claussen said her brother never showed any COVID-19 symptoms. He went to the doctor for his stomach issue and he was subsequently sent to the emergency room at Manatee Memorial Hospital on March 30 to get some relief and fluids for his stomach pains.

A scan of his stomach caught part of his lungs and though he was not having any breathing issues, doctors felt he may have had pneumonia.

He was admitted for more testing and it would be the last time his family would see him alive due to the current restrictions on visitation amid the pandemic.

Further tests on his lungs showed what doctors are becoming familiar with: The lungs look different when it’s COVID-19 and not pneumonia.

He never had a cough or fever

“He started to decline quickly,” Claussen said. “They put him on a new oxygen mix and he seemed to respond but then declined again. They took him to ICU (on April 2). By Tuesday he went on a ventilator and hospice was involved. He passed away that day. Within a week of having a stomachache, he was gone.”

Claussen said Boudreau never had a fever and never had a cough.

“You don’t know how you are going to act with it,” Claussen said. “My brother was healthy. No heart conditions, no diabetes, he was healthy. If someone doesn’t feel well, don’t brush them off. Don’t think it’s not serious because it is and it can cost you your life.”

Boudreau’s social circle was small and no one has displayed symptoms. He mostly did outdoor activities and had not been in any known situation where he would have been at risk to contract COVID-19.

“We are floored at how this could have happened,” said Claussen said, who noted she runs a company for disabled adults. “We locked down well prior to anyone telling us we had to. No one around him has shown any signs. Even my parents who are elderly and with health conditions were just with him before this happened and there are no signs. We just have no idea.”

Grateful to nurses and doctors

Claussen praised the medical staff at Manatee Memorial Hospital.

“I can’t say enough about them and how they communicated with us even though we couldn’t see my brother or them,” she said. “They chatted with us and they cried with us. The doctors were still calling us days after. They didn’t have to do that. They are slammed and those doctors and nurses are risking their own lives everyday.”

Claussen said she has spent the past few days trying to figure out what to do for the nurses and doctors who cared for her brother, but restrictions inside the hospital are tight. For now, she is looking to the future.

“I want to do something for them so they can know how much my family appreciates them, something long term,” she said. “When this is over, I’m going to go there and give them a hug and say thank you.”

Covell Funeral Home is in charge of the cremation and the family is planning a celebration of life later this summer when the pandemic eases its grip on the area.

‘He had a way to make people laugh’

Boudreau grew up in a small rural town in Connecticut where there weren’t a lot of services for disabled people. He went to a regular high school and attended regular classes. Claussen said it helped him to be a “regular guy.”

“He never got treated differently and I think that’s why he made such an impact on people he met,” she said. “He had a great ability to make people laugh. He had a way about him that when you had a conversation with him, you were smiling at the end.”

The pace and unusual circumstances involving Boudreau’s death from COVID-19 were not typical of what the average person understands about the disease. Claussen said if there is a hope for a silver lining, it’s that her brother’s death will act as a warning to others and perhaps save lives.

“People need to heed the warnings,” she said. “If they have to stay at home then stay at home. What is the alternative?”

This story was originally published April 16, 2020 at 12:26 PM.