“Don’t say that!” she said. Several tests for the virus came back negative.
On Sunday, Oct. 25, the 38-year-old Preble County sheriff’s captain staggered into the living room complaining that he couldn’t breathe.
“Do you want me to call a squad?” she asked.
“Yes,” he replied — and that’s when she knew it was bad. Mike Thornsberry was a cop’s cop, a stoic person who resisted doctor’s visits.
He was taken by ambulance to Reid Hospital in Richmond, Ind. Michelle sat dazed as ER doctors placed him on a ventilator.
“I love you, and you’re going to be OK,” she said.
He nodded, she said, “But I think he knew he was going to die.” Thornsberry was flown to Indiana University Hospital in Indianapolis, where he was diagnosed with viral and bacterial pneumonia and the H1N1 virus — after four negative tests for the swine flu.
“For the first four days, he would raise his eyebrows when I told him I loved him,” Michelle said. “After that, nothing. I would sit by his side and hold his hand. One time I told him, ‘This is just like being at home, with me doing all the talking.’ ”
It seemed unreal that her husband of 17 years — who seemed afflicted by nothing worse than a bad cold — could be near death.
“Here he’s a big, strong, healthy man, 38 years old, lying there helpless,” she recalled.
Thornsberry died Nov. 6 — after appearing stable enough for Michelle to spend a “mommy-daughter” day with their 5-year-old daughter, Allie Grace.
When she got the word that he was slipping away, she prayed, “Don’t let him die until I get there.”
She arrived with seconds to spare.
“God still answers prayers,” she said. “There were two things I asked God: Don’t make me make the decision to turn off life support, and please don’t make him suffer. I never had to make that call. He’s not suffering. God did heal him.”
Michelle is grateful for the outpouring from the community and from the Preble County Sheriff’s Department, where Thornsberry had worked for 15 years. His co-workers put a new roof on the couple’s New Paris home because Mike had mentioned recently that he planned to do that.
Strangers have donated money to help pay the family’s bills and to contribute to an education fund for Allie. The kids at the Preble County YMCA, where Thornsberry worked the popular monthly “slam jam” party, raised money for the family.
“It’s touching how many people care,” Michelle said. “They’re taking money out of their pockets and giving it to my family.”
The staff of the Preble County Sheriff’s Department was vaccinated after Thornsberry’s hospitalization. Sheriff Mike Simpson believes that law enforcement officers and emergency personnel should be on the Center for Disease Control’s “priority list” for the vaccine.
The list currently includes pregnant women, parents of infants, health care workers and EMS personnel and people with medical conditions.
“We don’t know how Mike contracted the virus, but getting the vaccine certainly would have helped his chances,” Simpson said.
Thornsberry’s widow hopes the public stops treating the swine flu like a punch line.
“Pay attention to the signs and symptoms.” Michelle urged. “Don’t assume it will just go away. It doesn’t matter how old you are, or how healthy you are — it’s very real. But we didn’t realize it until it was too late.”
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2209 or mmccarty@Dayton DailyNews.com.
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