Dan recently approached BenefitsPRO, saying he had "nearly died from Covid-19" and wanted to share his story with other benefits advisors.

He has written a book, titled, "COVID Almost Killed the CEO: How a Near-Death Experience Birthed a New Life," which will come out in late 2021. He hopes his book will help people manage stress, be more thankful, and appreciate those around them.

Here's his original LinkedIn piece, which garnered plenty of attention, including numerous responses from others sharing their experiences with COVID:

I am writing this to share a glimpse into my experience after I tested positive for COVID-19 and nearly lost my life in the process. This story is dedicated to people's love for me, including my family, friends, employees, the health care professionals who revived me and those close to me in all of my networks. I hope that you will consider becoming my friend if I don't know you and I hope that we can appreciate the humanity in each other. I hope that reading this will give you a renewed sense of hope, prayer, faith, love in human existence and an appreciation for those who surround you with kindness, positive energy and trust. Nothing matters but our existence and our humanity and breath cannot be taken for granted. Let's go.

Rewind back a few weeks. I was working 15-18 hour days. Avid CrossFitter, Orange Theory fitness lover, rower and runner. My nutrition wasn't perfectly on point. Minimal sleep, denying burnout. Refusing to see it, couldn't see it. Denied it. I admit it.

I started having what I immediately assumed was my annual sinusitis pain/congestion. Only it got worse. I suddenly had such enormous pain in my sinuses I couldn't think right. I tried to push it. I went to my typical walk-in urgent care to patch on some steroids and antibiotics. In the process, the doctor gave me a precautionary COVID nasal swab test. Continuing to push at this point, I got worse. Within a few days, Quest Labs got back to me over my Quest App and I undoubtedly was "red," detected as Coronavirus Positive. Everything went to hell in a handbasket from here.

So the pre-Covid Dan Thompson went home and sucked it up. I tried pushing through. I told my employees I couldn't be there. I told them to get tested and thank God they were all OK. I was thinking by now that I'd be OK. I was dead wrong.

My symptoms turned into low grade fever, followed by body aches, sweats, headaches, toothaches, aches on my shins, calves, lower legs. My wife tested positive. She crashed, but luckily stayed somewhat controlled with her symptoms. I pushed on, destined to try and shake this. I had no idea that this was only the beginning.

By the next day, I hadn't slept and my back started feeling like someone was punching me on both sides. Tremendous pain turned into coughing up blood. My daughter is a nurse at our local Golisano Children's Hospital. She brought over an Oxygen Sat monitor, and I was testing at 92, 91, 87, 88. Not good. My wife continued to ring in at 98, 97. She was safe; I was not. I called my primary care doctor, who ordered me to drive a mile to our local free-standing ER to get a chest x-ray and chest CT. My three kids cried as I walked out of the house. This was my worst nightmare; I had never been in a hospital, never had an IV, never smoked, light drinker, no other health conditions at all. Why was this happening to me?

As I entered the ER, I was greeted by the security and front triage team, who brought me in. The ER attending doctor and nurse were clearly overwhelmed, having a bad day, and didn't offer what I would call Ritz Carlton hospitality. I was brought in, drilled with IVs that filled me with antibiotics and steroids in hopes of reducing swelling/inflammation as the first course of treatment. My O2 Sat rate was still holding 92, 93, 94, 91, 95. I was taken to the CT scan, injected with dye and then, after hours of laying there in agony, I was told I should go home to sleep and rest. I didn't understand how they could release me while I was coughing blood. I had assumed that those managing my care would have proper judgement and my best interest in mind, but this wasn't the case. I even showed the ER doctor the blood by spitting into a cup and trashcan. His misjudgment could have killed someone; luckily, it didn't kill me.

The short-term treatment I received was not good, but it was enough to allow me the energy to get in my car, still feeling cloudy, still with an O2 Sat in the low 90s, still wondering what to do next. The next two days were a struggle that I would never like to repeat. I hope that you take every precaution to safeguard yourself, your company, your family, your friends, your neighbors, and even your worst enemies. I would experience the most unbelievable pain and symptoms that nearly put my body into a total breakdown, while wondering "why me?"

I called my primary care physician, who was shocked that I had been released. He immediately called the major hospital in our area, arranging my reception by the emergency room physician and team. As I again exited the house, I cried into my wife's shoulder, and still had no idea what was happening to me. My daughter, clad in her PPE gear, drove me to the ER. By this time, the blood that I was spitting out was dark red and the pain in my back felt like I had just left the ring after a title fight. I'd later find out my lungs were infected, full of pneumonia and COVID.

Upon my arrival at the main hospital, I was triaged by the kindest nurse I have ever met. I was starting to get blurry vision at this point, so she got me into the ER. The doctor on duty immediately took a look at me, put an O2 Sat monitor on my finger and asked me to follow him. When we arrived at my ER cube holding area, my O2 sat was 92, heart rate racing. He immediately ordered that IVs, antibiotics and steroids be infused. CT scan ordered, hours went by, blood extracted. I was told that I had bilateral pneumonia, severely infected lungs, crashing liver and countless symptoms. I felt like I wanted to die. After the ER declared me a disaster, I was admitted. Was I going to die? I couldn't believe it was happening to me. What about the new clients I just signed up? What happens to the doctors I was talking to for my technology company? What happens to my employees? My family?  

I was told that I was moving to a floor of people who were all in a similar crisis. No known chronic conditions, no co-morbidities but with infectious disease doctors, nurse teams, respiratory specialists, nurses, nutrition teams all working together to apply protocols that health care professionals had been learning since last March when COVID hit. Thank God I didn't get this back then. There would have been zero plan. Imagine that scenario. It could have been worse.

The infectious disease doctor and nursing team became my friends. The phlebotomist who came in to extract my blood became my friend. This medical team coming together to try and solve my dilemma was humbling and terrifying all at the same time. I was told that I was going to get the Remdesivir treatment (which I referred to as the Trump drugs) and that the full treatment was five days of IV infused treatment. As I got the treatment, I was slowly weaned off oxygen. Four liters became three liters, became two liters became 1.5 down to .5 and then off on the fifth day. My symptoms slowly started diminishing and my sinus pain subsided. The respiratory stress began to calm, I started using the IS meter, sucking in air and working my lungs back to health again. At the low point, I could only pull 500 ML; at my restored breathing I was back to 5000ML.

This whole process scared me so badly; I could never have imagined this happening to me. My wife had already experienced the worst stretch of her life, losing her father three years ago, burying her mother back in December and losing her only brother to an opioid overdose in May. She was devastated at the very thought of losing her soulmate, too.

The health care professionals are angels who put their lives at risk to save me. My employees pushed their boundaries of comfort to answer my emails and present on sales calls, even though they weren't sales people. They renewed their groups, stayed positive, remained calm, made a plan and executed. All for me. My family prayed for my recovery. My friends were shocked. Few knew what had happened at the time and telling this story  so far has been impactful enough that I had to write it and share it more widely

You see, the silver lining is that life has given me a second chance. COVID did not kill the CEO, but it did unearth in me infinite gratitude for life, humanity, existence, and the very breath I take in.

My parting message to you is stay safe, take precautions, do everything you can to protect yourself, your neighbors, your family, the vulnerable and above all, live in happiness and everlasting love for the time you have on earth.

If you would humble me with your stories, I would like to hear from you. Email or message me to let me know if this story or your own experience has changed your perspective on life as it has me.

With Love for Life,

Dan