White House security office director Crede Bailey fell ill with COVID-19 in September, and now he's recovering from a three-month hospital stay. Bloomberg reports that Bailey suffered amputations during his time in the hospital, losing his right foot and lower leg. He was among the dozens of COVID-19 cases connected to the White House, but his family allegedly asked the White House to not make his condition public.
Bailey's friends launched a GoFundMe fundraiser to help with his rehabilitation costs, and so far they've raised over $35,000. "Crede beat COVID-19 but it came at a significant cost: his big toe on his left foot as well as his right foot and lower leg had to be amputated," wrote the organizer of the GoFundMe, Dawn McCrobie. Over the coming months, Bailey will be fitted with a prosthetic leg at a rehabilitation center.
"His family has staggering medical bills from a hospital stay of 2+ months and still counting in the ICU and a long road ahead in rehab before he can go home," wrote McCrobie in the initial posting of the GoFundMe account on Nov. 13. "When he does make it home there will be major changes necessary to deal with his new, and permanent, disability." Those close to the situation have confirmed that McCrobie is a friend of Bailey's, although the White House has so far refused to comment.
The revelations regarding Bailey come as Rudy Giuliani, the personal lawyer of Donald Trump, admitted that he had received preferential treatment because of his "celebrity" when he contracted COVID-19. "If it wasn’t me, I wouldn’t have been put in a hospital frankly,” Giuliani said. "Sometimes when you’re a celebrity, they’re worried if something happens to you they’re going to examine it more carefully, and do everything right."
