Community Rallies Behind Tinker Airman After Wife's Sudden Death

An airman at Tinker Air Force Base is brought to tears after the community rallies behind him in one of his darkest hours. Just days after his second son was born, his wife developed a deadly blood clot.

Airman First Class Donovan Garcia remembers his wife fondly. He met Ashlie Garcia five years ago. They got married, had their first son Locklyn two years ago, and recently another miracle came along.

Lyndon was born pre-mature on April 1, 2016.  During Ashlie's pregnancy, she had high blood pressure to the point where they agreed to schedule a C-section at 34 weeks. Lyndon was born healthy, but Ashlie was still dealing with complications.

She got a blood clot in her lower right leg, and within 10 days after childbirth, it moved up to her lungs. Donovan said it was so bad one night they decided to call the ambulance. “In transit, her lungs completely failed and they collapsed and her heart stopped beating,” he said.

They tried and tried again to revive her at the hospital, but Ashlie died at the hospital with Donovan by her side.

“I didn’t know that this was going to happen. It was so unexpected,” he said.

Since her death, Donovan has received overwhelming support from the community. He said love has poured in from family and friends, his squadron and the Air Force, but he’s also been receiving help from strangers.  

Anonymous donors have supported a GoFundMe page set up by Ashlie's friend.

People in Donovan’s squad put a message out on Facebook and a freezer was donated. Then, a group called Oklahoma Crunchy Moms spread the word to get breastmilk donated. The freezer is sitting in Donovan’s home at Tinker Air Force Base filled with 2,500 pounds of breastmilk. He told News 9 there are more bags of milk, but they wouldn’t fit in the freezer.

“They rallied behind me and they took care of it before I could even process anything else. It’s been phenomenal,” said Donovan. He said all the support is giving him the strength to get through this tough time.

Donovan said he will raise his children to know who their mother was – a beautiful, intelligent woman who was his biggest support and soul-mate.

For anyone who wants to help this Air Force family, click here: https://www.gofundme.com/p9yq34ak