HOUSTON – LGBTQ advocate John Buchanan, of Houston, died Thursday after battling COVID-19 for over a month.
Buchanan’s husband Osmar said he died surrounded by family and friends.
“I told him that I loved him and if he needed to go to a better place, everything was going to be ok,” said Osmar Buchanan.
Buchanan, who was originally from Humble, was fully vaccinated, according to his friend. He contracted COVID-19 during a trip to Kentucky in August. Buchanan’s husband also got COVID-19 but recovered.
Buchanan -- who had high blood pressure and was prediabetic -- entered the ICU and never left, according to Henshilwood.
“The last few days have been really difficult we’ve had to make a lot of real tough decisions,” said Henshilwood.
Buchanan shared heartbreaking updates from his hospital bed as his body struggled for oxygen and the situation grew more and more dire. This was his last post:
“Well tomorrow is my birthday and I’m still in ICU,” he wrote on Aug. 24. “I’m...scared have no clue if I will live or die. I lay in this bed alone crying morning noon and night. Every time something good happens two bad things happen. I don’t want to die and I feel so sad for my husband h is stuck trying to do everything I did for us in the regular. I’m still being forced air to breathe. I’m truly trying not to be a baby about this but I’m losing the battle! If I don’t make this just know each INE of you played an important role in my life, even if I didn’t like you you played a role -- actually I pretty much like everyone! If I do pass, please have folks help my husband because we have a lot of (stuff) he will need to figure out! But if I’m still breathing tomorrow I lived to see another day. Love each and everyone!!!”
A prayer group for Buchanan announced his death and loved ones shared messages.
“John, May you Rest In Peace, prayed as hard as I could for your recovery 😔... to your husband and family, I offer my deepest sympathies,” one message read.
Another post read, “John you are very loved and will never be forgotten. You are not a friend to us, you became apart of our family from the first time. ... Thank you for always making us laugh and ensuring that I wasn’t the one making the the most inappropriate comments. I love you Guncle! And don’t worry, we will be there for Osmar for as long as he can tolerate us. Until we meet again.”
“John was more than just a friend,” another person wrote. “I knew him in many roles, a realtor, a referral partner, a client, an investor, a fellow plumeria grower, and he and his husband; Osmar, were house and pet sitters to our three fur babies whenever we had to go out of town. My heart just aches over this. RIP, John; you sure touched a lot of lives.”
A GoFundMe account has been set up in Buchanan’s name.