One of my closest friends is a veteran doctor in a town deep in the Bible Belt. I’ve had lots of conversations with him about this experiences during the coronavirus pandemic. He has had COVID and so have I.

One common theme in our conversations has been a sense of mystery that medical professionals, from the beginning, have had about this evolving disease. They understand why COVID hits some people hard, especially older patients and people who, for various reasons, have respiratory problems. The mystery is why this disease strikes with deadly force in some cases — but clearly not all — involving young, healthy adults. And why does COVID attack some hearts and not others?

Readers will collide with some of these mysteries while reading a stunning Washington Post story about a family’s 139-day hospital drama that has received quite a bit of attention in social media and the mainstream press. The headline: “Chris Crouch was anti-vaccine. Now his pregnant wife had covid, and he faced a terrible choice.” Here is the overture:

KINGWOOD, Tex. — Chris Crouch had had low expectations for online dating. He was a police officer in his 30s, almost a year out from a painful divorce, and, he said, the women he had met had been “playing games” in ways that left him dispirited.

Then he met her.

Diana Garcia Martinez was 24 and a busy single mom whose sister had set up her profile without her knowing. She was intelligent, empathetic and upfront, and by the third date, he was in love. “It was just a feeling. … I felt like I knew her my whole life,” he recalled explaining to his cousin Gilbert, knowing it was a cliche but also true.

What role does religious faith play in this story? That’s a complex question.

I mean, we are talking about people in Texas. No one should be surprised by frequent Godtalk and references to prayer.

However, as the son of a Texas Baptist pastor (who spend the last decade of his ministry as a hospital chaplain), I was very surprised that the word “church” is missing. Did this couple really go through this medical hell alone, without a pastor or friends who share a pew with them? Maybe this couple is in the “Nothing in particular” demographic, but I have my doubts.

The story does offer one clue as to why “church” could be complicated. Here is that reference, in context:

Chris and Diana were married in the summer of 2019 in a small garden ceremony, and life had been pretty close to perfect since then.

They were opposites, but in ways that complemented each other. Born in Monterrey, Mexico, and raised in North Carolina, Diana was quiet and tended to choose her words carefully. He was a gregarious Texan with a quirky way of recalling dates, numbers and interesting facts about everything from football to legal statutes, a habit that sparked lively conversations with strangers wherever they went. They agreed on conservative values — he was raised Baptist and she was Catholic. And they shared a sharp sense of humor, enjoying shows like “The Office” together.

Key words? Maybe they are “raised” and “was.”

The key issue for the Post team, of course, is (Wait. For. It) politics. In this case, that may in fact be the root of the story’s big issue — which is why these healthy young adults decided not to get COVID-19 vaccine shots. It’s also crucial to know that Diana Crouch “had been healthy, about 110 pounds and at 18 weeks when she arrived at the hospital, still in the second trimester of her pregnancy.”

Here is the crucial summary material for why they avoided vaccines. Key word could be “Texas.”

When the vaccines came along, Chris became outspoken against them, espousing views that were common in his workplace and much of Texas but that put him at odds with his mother, sister and the close friends he had grown up with in the Heights, a liberal bastion in Houston. Despite his family’s pleading, Chris and Diana were adamant they did not need to be vaccinated. They did wear masks, but only when required.

Chris felt that vaccine mandates infringed on personal liberties, a perspective promoted by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and other prominent Republicans. And Chris and Diana also worried that the shots had been developed too quickly. As he liked to say, “God gave us our immune system and we can fight the viruses with our own immune system.” Diana, meanwhile, was leery of anything that might hurt the developing baby she carried. She knew that early stories linking the vaccines to miscarriage and infertility were false, but thought avoiding them was the prudent thing to do, like skipping wine, raw fish and unpasteurized cheese — especially given some of the medical community’s early hesitation. The World Health Organization and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention now recommend that all pregnant people get vaccinated.

Then things changed. Note the location, location, location.

In the summer of 2021, soon after President Biden declared the pandemic almost over, their two-year anniversary was approaching and the couple decided to go to Las Vegas to celebrate. They stayed at the Trump hotel, walked along the Strip and caught a showing of Cirque du Soleil. Diana had a headache, but it didn’t keep them from going out and having fun.

The agonizing puzzle in this story is the life-and-death decision that Chris Crouch had to make for both his wife and his unborn child. This is precisely the kind of ethical-theological question that I thought would lead to discussions with a pastor or priest, considering their backgrounds.

But, no. The only “ministry” provided in this story was offered by Cameron Dezfulian, a critical-care specialist, who was a key player in care after Diana, in the midst of radical treatments, endured an “embolic shower,” with the Post team notes is what happens when blood clots burst and scatter. Then:

Now, the doctors told Chris that even if Diana woke up, she might “not be the same,” she might not remember him or the children. Chris crumpled into the chair next to her and wept. Dezfulian came by and prayed with him.

“That’s when I prayed the most,” Chris said, “because at that point, even the doctors were like, ‘We don’t really know what to do next.’ ”

Obviously, this is a gripping, must-read story. I’ll wrap this up by restating my main question: Did Chris and Diana Crouch really walk through this Valley of of the Shadow of Death alone, with zero help from a pastor or from a body of believers? Did anyone ask about that?

FIRST IMAGE: Personal photo by Chris Crouch, provided to Good Morning America and included in this report: “Parents name baby boy after doctor who treated mom for COVID-19.”