Rangers president Davidson says doctors, nurses 'are the heroes'

John Davidson and his wife, Diana, have a grandson they've never met and a daughter they used to stay up at night worrying about due to concerns surrounding the coronavirus, the New York Rangers president said.

"Scary times," Davidson said Friday.
Dr. Lindsay Clukies, the Davidson's oldest daughter, worked in her job as a pediatric emergency medicine doctor and associate trauma medical director at St. Louis Children's Hospital up to one week before giving birth to her third child, Robert John, on March 22.
Robert John was born a week premature because of unexpected complications and spent four days in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) at St. Louis Children's Hospital before he was able to go home.
"Oh, we got nervous," Davidson said. "I know when the time came for her to work her last shift they did test her [for the coronavirus] because she was expecting. That was something that was very important and we were nervous about it. She tested negative, so that was good. The whole thing could have been different if she was positive and giving birth to a little one. There's quarantines. There's your family. She's got two other little boys and a husband, the whole thing.
"But when you're in the hospitals these days and you're giving birth, and this little guy was early so he had to stay a little longer than you would hope, it all gets rather nerve wracking."

Dr. Lindsay Clukies, oldest daughter of Rangers president John Davidson
Davidson said his daughter was nervous before giving birth because she had a sense of what was coming. Clukies told him and Diana to stock up on goods in early February, predicting the worst was coming.
"They had done their research," Davidson said. "They had correspondence with people in Asia and Europe, so they knew what was coming. Their hospital, I give them credit, by the sounds of it they prepared well for this thing. They did a good job, but it still takes courage to go to work."
Clukies was especially exposed to patients with the coronavirus before having her baby and going on maternity leave because the children's hospital became an overflow hospital for adult coronavirus patients.
She kept going to work.
"She is, she really is [a hero]," Davidson said. "It's a hard enough job as it is because there's emotions involved if you care, but now, holy smokes. They really are the heroes."
The worst part was not being able to be in St. Louis with and for their daughter and her family, including husband Robert, and sons Brady and Blake, because of the coronavirus.
"My wife couldn't go and help her daughter, which was tough," Davidson said. "It was very complicated. At first, that's when Diana was, you know, you don't sleep. You're wondering and wondering. Mothers do that. It settled down in time because that's just the way it is."

With the NHL season having been paused on March 12, Davidson said he thought about renting a plane to at least get Diana to St. Louis but realized that wouldn't do any good because of quarantine restrictions.
They FaceTime daily with their daughter instead.
"You could drive 16 hours or get an aircraft or fly commercial if you wanted to take that chance, but it's more about you can be asymptomatic and not even know it so you just can't do it," Davidson said. "That's just the way it is. So we're hoping to meet the little guy before he turns one."
Clukies isn't working now because of maternity leave, which means she can quarantine and do her best to stay clear of the virus instead of being on the front lines. That hasn't given her much piece of mind, though.
"When you talk to her, there's even a feeling of guilt now not being able to go to work because the friends and co-workers who you develop a heck of a relationship, they're working," Davidson said. "Because of the baby it was just timing, it just happened. Nobody expected it, but she's often said to me that she feels guilty not going to work.
"It's amazing what these doctors do. Not only doctors but nurses and technicians. It's just amazing, just amazing."