SUN PRAIRIE, Wis. – Though more and more people have immunity against COVID-19 each day, some people will still get sick and potentially die before this is over — a reality that’s hit one Sun Prairie family.
S&K Snowplowing and Lawn Mowing started from the ground up when Kevin Douglas was a barely a teenager.
“My dad Scott and I started this when I was 14 in high school,” Kevin said. “I bought a lawnmower from Farm and Fleet. I drove around to lawns and just knocked on people’s doors.”
His dad cleared the way financially for Kevin’s dreams and hard work to bloom into a full-fledged business. Now at 28, he’s a co-owner and been involved with S&K half his life.
“It’s kind of like a huge family,” Kevin Douglas said. The business is made of his literal family members, too, including his older brother, Jeremy Douglas, who is manager of the S&K automotive shop. “My dad trained us to be the hardest workers.”
“Work’s not supposed to be happy. I think around here, it is,” Jeremy said.
Their mom Kim Douglas is happy to work side-by-side with her husband Scott, as well.
“There’s a lot of pride,” she said. “This business is everything to us.”
For a guy with such a tough exterior and persistent work ethic, Scott’s family members didn’t think anything would tear him away.
“My dad never shows pain,” Kevin said. “About seven years ago in a snowplowing incident, I accidentally cut his finger off. That guy didn’t quit. He walked to the bathroom, put some tape on it, wrapped his glove and said we have other stuff to do before we take care of that.”
“He’s one person that’s very stubborn,” Kim said. “He doesn’t want to miss being at work.”
It took a diagnosis of COVID-19 last month, even after two tests came up negative, to take Scott away from his family and work. Even that took some convincing.
“He would sleep a lot, 14, 16, 18 hours a day. That’s not him,” Kevin said.
“My husband had the death look. It was so scary,” Kim said. She wanted to call 911, but settled on taking him to the hospital. “The whole way there I was panicked. I just didn’t think he was going to make it.”
Scott went from working hard with his family to fighting for his life alone, battling COVID-19 on a ventilator.
“I was prepared to have a funeral,” Kevin said. “When this all started, I really wasn’t a believer of it all. I always said my dad could never get it because the guy has beaten everything. I never thought I would get it or anyone in my family would get it. Seeing him go through this, it opened my eyes.”
Jeremy’s father-in-law died while Scott was in the hospital – news that hit his five-year-old son hard.
“We’ve been praying for my dad to pull through so he didn’t lose two Papas in less than a month,” Jeremy said.
“This is serious,” Kim said. “If you think you can’t get it, think again.”
Now, instead of following in their dad’s footsteps, Scott’s sons are filling his shoes, working overtime to keep the business afloat. Just recently, a longtime employee had a heart attack, adding another strain.
“This is our livelihood, what we live and breathe. If this happened to fall down, we’re done,” Jeremy said. “He wouldn’t want this jeopardized by no means.”
Scott has been pushing, too — that stubborn streak paying off. He got off the ventilator after 14 days and has been recovering in the weeks since.
“He kept going, kept going, kept going,” Kevin said, adding that his father is consistently impressing his medical team. Kevin has kept the hundreds of people who know his dad updated on Facebook.
“Doctors come in when I’ve been there,” Kim said. “They’ve said, ‘You are definitely a miracle.’”
Scott is now at a rehab center with a long road to recovery, currently working on walking again.
“This is a man who you could never get to sit down,” Kim said.
While Scott’s off his feet, his family members have each other to lean on.
“My sons were my rock,” Kim said. “We never realized how close a family could be until you’ve experienced something as terrible as this.”
“My dad told us, when the going gets tough keep going,” Kevin said. “I think people will be shocked to see that guy will do everything he can to keep working because he enjoys it.”
According to a Facebook post, Kevin hopes his dad will be released from the rehab center in about a week.
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