Name of Victim: Shawn Spakes
Age of Victim: 57
Sex of Victim: Male
State: AR
Name of Hospital(s) victim was admitted to (List All that apply): Unity Health – and Baptist Health, Little Rock, AR
Did the victim survive? No
Date of Death: 06/17/2021
Contact Name: Donna Spakes
Relationship to Victim: Wife
Was the victim a military Veteran? No
Was the victim considered special needs, or did they have any kind of disability? No
Was the victim admitted to the hospital? Yes
County Hospital is located in: Searcy, AR
Date Admitted: 05/20/2021
Was the victim isolated at any time during hospitalization? Yes
Was the Victim vaccinated? No
Does the victim or family feel they were treated differently by hospital staff as a result of disclosing their vaccination status? Yes
Was the victim or family pressured to sign a Do Not Resuscitate? Yes
Was the victim physically restrained? No
Was the victim deprived of food and water while in the hospital? Yes
Was victim placed on a ventilator? Yes
Has this incident been reported to any agency such as VAERS, HHS, JACHO, Medical Board or others? Not Sure
Would you be interested in participating in podcasts or other media? Yes
I Left A Wife and Came Home a Widow – Shawn Spakes Story
Shawn Spakes was 57 years old. A husband. A provider. A man who had worked hard his whole life and trusted that if he ever needed medical care, the system would be there to help him.
On May 20, 2021, Shawn was admitted to Unity Health in Searcy, Arkansas. Within weeks, he would be transferred to Baptist Health in Little Rock. On June 17, 2021, Donna Spakes lost her husband. What happened in those 28 days was not a sudden tragedy. It was a systematic unraveling, one decision at a time, under the banner of “COVID protocol.”
Shawn was not vaccinated. That fact alone seemed to change everything.
From the beginning, Donna sensed a shift in tone and treatment once his vaccination status was known. Instead of compassionate care, there was distance. Instead of collaboration, there was pressure. Instead of informed consent, there were decisions made quickly and often without full transparency.
Like so many others across the country, Shawn was isolated. Donna was cut off from her husband at the very moment he needed her advocacy most. The hospital walls became barriers not only to infection, but to accountability. She could not sit at his bedside, could not observe his care, could not freely ask questions face to face. Isolation became control.
As Shawn’s condition worsened, oxygen levels were escalated. The pressure toward more aggressive interventions grew. The message was clear: comply or he will die. Families across America heard the same words as Donna, “He’s a very sick man”. Repeated until fear replaced reason. The alternative treatments she may have asked for were dismissed. The path forward was singular and non-negotiable.
Then came the ventilator.
Across the nation, families were told the same lies that mechanical ventilation was necessary “to let the lungs rest.” Shawn was no exception. Once intubated, everything changed. Sedation followed. Communication stopped. Decisions accelerated.
Donna was pressured to sign a Do Not Resuscitate order. In the middle of crisis, when clarity is hardest to grasp, she was asked to accept that if his heart stopped, they would not intervene. This pressure tactic has echoed in thousands of stories, presenting DNRs as routine paperwork rather than life-and-death directives. Donna knew what that signature meant. She felt the weight of it.
Inside those hospital walls, Shawn was deprived of basic sustenance. Food and water were withheld. The body weakens quickly without nourishment. Weight drops. Muscles waste away. Hope fades. Families have described this stage as watching their loved one disappear before their eyes. Not from a virus, but from neglect layered into protocol.
Donna could not reconcile what she was being told with what she instinctively knew. Something was wrong. Nothing made sense. The decline felt orchestrated, not inevitable.
Over the course of 28 days, Shawn went from a man admitted for treatment to a ventilated patient stripped of voice, autonomy, and dignity. By June 17, 2021, he was gone.
Donna was left not only with grief, but with questions. She left a wife and came home a widow.
Why were alternative treatments dismissed outright?
Why was family access restricted so severely?
Why the pressure for a DNR?
Why the lack of basic nutrition?
Why did it feel like compliance mattered more than care?
What happened to Shawn Spakes mirrors the patterns reported by thousands of families nationwide; isolation, denial of informed consent, aggressive oxygen escalation, forced protocol drugs, heavy sedation, ventilation, DNR pressure, deprivation of food and water. These were not isolated incidents. They were systemic practices carried out under emergency authorization and shielded by legal immunity.
These are egregious crimes against humanity that must be stopped.
Donna’s story is not just one of loss. It is one of awakening. The pain of losing Shawn became fuel. Instead of retreating into silence, she chose to step forward. Today, Donna Spakes serves on the Board of Betrayal Project USA, an organization built by victims, for victims. She is helping ensure that no family walks this path alone.
Betrayal Project USA exists to give families like Donna’s a platform, to document testimonies, expose patterns of institutional betrayal, pursue accountability, and build a community of support. Our board members and volunteer force are largely widows, widowers, and survivors who experienced similar harm. We are not career activists. We are ordinary Americans who trusted the system until it was used to harm us.
We believe truth must be preserved. We believe reform is necessary. And we believe accountability is not optional.
If you or a loved one has been harmed or killed by COVID-related hospital protocols, shots, or policies, we urge you to document your story at betrayalprojectusa.org. If you are unsure whether what happened to your loved one fits a larger pattern, read our Hospital Deadly Playbook and see if those same tactics were used in your family’s story.
You are not alone.
Your questions are valid.
Your grief deserves a voice.
Donna’s story and courage are part of a growing movement determined to ensure that what happened under the guise of COVID and Public Health is never repeated again.
