Ridgewood Native, 25, Fights For Life Amid Coronavirus 'Red Tape'

RIDGEWOOD – They lost his test. They held up his drug trial. Now he's in a coma.

The best thing Jack Allard has going for him in his battle against the coronavirus, his family says, is that he's only 25.

But even that hasn't helped him enough as Allard is waging a tough battle against "extreme complications" from the disease, one that has family and a U.S. congressman on his side, pushing hard for his survival as they deal with "red tape."

Jack Allard, who grew up in Ridgewood, is one of 4,402 cases that have been reported in New Jersey – the second highest in the nation – and 62 people have died. Read more: NJ Coronavirus Updates: Here's What You Need To Know

Many, like Jack, have been on a ventilator. Jack's also been in intensive care and, for six days, in a medically induced coma.

"My son is healthy, no pre-existing conditions and he's 25. This virus is really dangerous and now he is very, very sick," Genny Allard told ABC7, saying her son developed a fever after working in Manhattan.

Jack is a 2016 Bates College alumnus and a two-time All-American lacrosse athlete who fell ill on March 13 with symptoms including vomiting, back pain and a fever, according to The Bates Student.

Since then, he's been struggling to get help after the lab lost his test – something that prompted his family's local congressman, U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, to call "inexcusable."

"Somehow they lost his test and it cost all those days," the congressman told ABC7.

Then Gottheimer said he had to fight to get Allard on a trial for a drug called remdesivir, one that could help him survive the disease. He was set to be airlifted to the University of Pennsylvania for the trial this week, but the "red tape" delayed it, his office said.

He's since been approved, but Genny told Fox News on Tuesday night that Jack, who now lives in Metuchen, was still at JFK Medical Center in Edison, waiting to be airlifted.

"It keeps changing all day but we're waiting for him to be transported," Genny told Fox News. "He needs to go to a critical care hospital."

Gottheimer said Gilead Sciences halted emergency individual "compassionate use" access to its experimental COVID-19 drug remdesivir, citing overwhelming demand.

Compassionate-use requests were still made for pregnant women and children under 18 years of age, but Gottheimer said the company left "hundreds of other patients suffering from extreme symptoms of COVID-19 without treatment that could save their lives."

Those patients included the 25-year-old Ridgewood native "who is currently suffering from extreme COVID-19 complications," Gottheimer said.

"Now is the time for our government and life sciences companies to redouble their efforts and commitment to effectively treating patients, developing the cures we need, and providing access to those who need it most," he said. "Thousands of American lives depend on it. We cannot delay.”

Genny told Fox News that the drug should be able to slow the virus down so it would give Jack's body a chance to fight it. "His doctors say this is something that can really help him," she told the network. "We really think this is the best chance he has to survive it."