Vigil held for LVPD officer fighting COVID-19

By Gaige Davila
editor@portisabelsouthpadre.com 

Laguna Madre residents sign well wishes to Officer Noah LeBlanc on Sept. 4 during a candlelight vigil at Roloff Park. Photo by Lupita Sauceda.

The Laguna Madre community gathered at Roloff Park, in Laguna Vista this past weekend to spiritually support a local police officer fighting COVID-19.

Organized by Cameron County Constable Pct. 1 Norman Esquivel and Brownsville Police Department officer Eric Castillo, a candlelight vigil was held for friends and family of Officer Noah LeBlanc, who is currently in the hospital. Several local police departments attended the vigil, from Los Fresnos, Los Indios, Port Isabel and South Padre Island. 

In a sermon led by Pastor Matthew Wyatt, of OneTwo Church on South Padre Island, attendees prayed together, hoping for LeBlanc’s recovery of a virus that has claimed several Laguna Madre lives. 

Noah LeBlanc, a Laguna Vista Police Department (LVPD) officer for the past 4 years, was hospitalized last week after contracting COVID-19. LeBlanc, who also has cancer, is currently on a ventilator and intubated. He was on immunotherapy to prepare for a second round of chemotherapy for his cancer, scheduled for this past weekend, when he contracted the virus. 

Laguna Vista Police Department officer Noah LeBlanc. Courtesy photo.

“I about died,” Mary Galvan, LeBlanc’s mother, told the PRESS over the phone recounting her learning of her son’s COVID-19 diagnosis. 

Noah LeBlanc’s nephew, Mason, watches people sign posters offering well wishes for his uncle on Sept. 4. Photo by Gaige Davila.

LeBlanc was quarantined with one of his two children, who also tested positive for COVID-19. In the early morning hours of Sept. 1, LeBlanc’s child texted her mother saying her father was incoherent and needed help. The child’s mother contacted Galvan, herself in the hospital and unable to do anything, who then contacted her husband saying he needed to go over right away. By the time he got there, EMS were already working on LeBlanc. He has been hospitalized, on life support, since.

“He already had cancer almost licked, he was almost there, and then this happens,” Galvan said. “It angers me, it’s frustrating, but all of that emotion leaves me, then I gain my focus, and I just know he’s going to make it.” 

“I know he’s just doing this to piss me off,” Galvan jokes.  

LeBlanc’s kidneys started failing this week, with doctors starting dialysis this past Tuesday. Galvan said the dialysis is working, and though LeBlanc’s road to recovery is long, she’s positive he’ll pull through. 

“I’m very positive right now, I’m happy with the care he’s getting, all the nurses are very attentive,” Galvan said. “All we can do is pray right now, that’s all we can do. It’s in God’s hands, and the nurses’.” 

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Permanent link to this article: https://www.portisabelsouthpadre.com/2021/09/10/vigil-held-for-lvpd-officer-fighting-covid-19/

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