‘Teen Mom OG’ Dad Gary Shirley Gives Sad Update on Stepdad Jody’s Battle with C0VID-19

One week after Gary Shirley shared that his mother Carol was battling C0VID-19, the Teen Mom OG star provided another update on her condition, as well as on the condition of his stepdad, Jody, who was “showing symptoms” of the virus last week.

While Gary was pleased to announce on Saturday that Carol is improving, sadly the same could not be said for Jody, whom Gary says has taken a turn for the worse. (Both Carol and Jody have been featured on ‘Teen Mom OG’ over the years. While Jody is not technically Gary’s stepfather, he has played that role in Gary’s life.)

“Please continue to pray for my family,” Gary wrote on Instagram. “Jody (my stepdad) was rushed to the hospital a few days ago with very low levels of oxygen.

“He was admitted into the Intensive Care Unit and diagnosed with C0VID-19 & Pneumonia. He is receiving plasma, a new clinical trial drug and on a breathing machine in hopes to fight this virus. As you can imagine this is very difficult on my family.”

“Update on my mom…. She is getting stronger everyday and on the mend,” Gary added.

‘Teen Mom OG’ fans will best-remember Jody from several episodes from Season 7, in which he and Gary took DNA tests to see if Jody was Gary’s biological father. Although the tests showed that Jody was not Gary’s father, he has remained active in Gary’s life, as well as the lives of Gary’s kids. 

Last week, Gary stated that his mom likely contracted the virus at work, being that she’s an essential worker at an assisted living facility. At that time, Jody hadn’t been officially diagnosed with the virus, but was showing symptoms. (He and Gary’s mother live together.) 

View this post on Instagram

This Mother’s Day is a little hard because my mother is very sick. A week ago she was diagnosed with Covid-19. Her line of work put her at a higher risk since she was working in activities and house keeping at an assisted living facility. My wife and I have been trying to help by dropping off food (curbside) so she could focus on getting rest. We haven’t hugged her in about 3 months & we haven’t had her over inside our home for about 3 months. This has been extremely hard for all of us. Our youngest daughter has an immunodeficiency disorder where she gets sick so easily so we have stayed home and took this quarantine very seriously. We have had to go to store a few times (kid free of course) however, I knew my mother would be exposed at some point due to her job which was very worrisome itself. Now, with a confirmed case of covid-19 we are worried more and limited on what we can do to help. She has good days and of course bad days like today. Her and Jody live together and I knew it would only be a matter of time before he would get it, and of course…. I believe he has it now. He has the symptoms, but hasn’t had the test yet. So I will be dropping off breakfast in the morning on the porch and wishing her a Happy Mother’s Day while praying for her. All prayers are welcomed and much appreciated. Happy Mother’s Day to all the beautiful mothers and a BIG Happy Mother’s Day to my amazing wife. @kristina_shirley3

A post shared by Gary Shirley (@itsgarytime) on

On Sunday, Carol provided an update on Jody to her Facebook friends, tagging Gary and his wife Kristina in the post.

“Hello everyone the update for Jody Patterson today they are putting him into an induced coma deep sleep and putting him on a ventilator,” she wrote. “We still need everyone’s prayers. God is a miracle-working God. Thank you everyone for all the prayers.”

Gary and his family have received plenty of support from the cast and crew of ‘Teen Mom’ since Gary first announced that his parents were fighting C0VID-19. Several of the show’s producers and crew members, as well as parents of the cast members have all left comments in support of Carol and Jody. 

RELATED STORY: ‘Teen Mom OG’ Dad Gary Shirley Reveals His Mother Carol Has Been Diagnosed With C0VID-19 & His Stepfather Jody “Has the Symptoms”

(Photos: MTV, Instagram)

30 Comments

  1. Prayers to your parents Gary. Our world has seen so much tragedy and I pray both your mom and Jody pull through this thing! With love from friends in Michigan,
    Sunni aka Author Ember Rain


  2. Kail is an idiot with a plush house, no worries about feeding her litter, and access to decent healthcare- Gary’s step-dad and all those people in nursing homes are DEAD dude, DEAD. Because of my morons without a healthy respect for something that kills people horrifically.

    Does Kail say it’s worse to live in fear when she’s dangling her kid over a shark, something that kills WAY less people than this virus? Or letting them cross a busy intersection?

    No, because intelligent respect danger and act accordingly.

    And again, no, Gary’s dad isn’t going to get well soon, tf out of here with that.


  3. [* Shield plugin marked this comment as “Trash”. Reason: Failed Bot Test (expired) *]
    This is so sad. I remember Jody crying when he found out he wasn’t Gary’s father. I love watching Gary and his family on OG, prayees for him and his family ✝ 🙏 ❤.


  4. Hi Gary I am so sorry about your family. My husband and I live in Florida I work as a cna in s nursing home and it’s so scary hoping I don’t contract covid 19 our prayers are with your family god bless


  5. I sorry that is happening to his family,but, we don’t need to continue supporting these kids anymore. That’s all you are doing is paying for their mistakes. I went through things too,but I got a job and my baby went to daycare. It wasn’t easy, no one paid for my mistakes.You are promoting their problems. Everyone has problems. But your money to other things like childcare support groups. Education, birth control.Stop paying for girls on tv. They didn’t stop with one kid now most of them have more and getting paid for it. That’s really showing everyone that someone will pay for their stupidly. Get real!


    1. Gary is one of the most stand-up parents to emerge from this dumpster fire of a show. He has a professional job – he’s a police officer but likely for privacy reasons it is not brought up on the show. He’s just smart enough to ride this out and continue to collect the MTV checks until that well runs dry. But unlike most others on the show he’ll be just fine when the show is finally cancelled.


  6. Hope he pulls through. It doesn’t matter if he didn’t make Gary, he was more of a father (and grandad to the girls) to him than anyone else. Glad Carol is doing better, praying Jody will make it too. All the best to Gary and his family during this difficult time.


  7. I’m so sorry your Mom and Dad have to go through this Gary. I’m so glad you are taking it seriously and protecting your wife and daughters. You and Kristina are wonderful parents and I’ll be praying for all of you! God Bless! 🙏🙏🙏


  8. Gary, praying for Jody and your mom, and your whole family. So sorry you all are facing this awful disease. Please keep us posted.


  9. I feel so awful for Gary, Jody, and the rest of their family. COVID-19 is a horrible thing to go through. I work in health care, so I have personally seen how this awful and dangerous virus impacts both patients and their families. I really hope that Jody pulls through with minimal impact to his overall health, and I hope that nobody else in his family contracts it.


  10. I hope your stepdad gets better.prayers for your family.momtoo hope she gets better too.hang tight we have a awesome god. Peace


  11. it is sad, all disease and death is sad. But I agree with Kail, living in fear is not living and her 11 year old and no other child should live in fear. This virus is no worse than some of the others we have had and the fear mongering is evil to say the least! I hope Gary’s parents both are well soon


    1. Living in fear is better than dying. To die from COVID is a horrible death, not to mention, you die alone. I’d rather live in fear for 6 months than die a painful, lonely death.


      1. [* Shield plugin marked this comment as “Trash”. Reason: Failed Bot Test (expired) *]
        I wonder if Gary will continue supporting Amber at all times when she is using Jody being ill as clickbait to make money? Disgusting.


    2. And just a side note, how many other “flu bugs” out there commonly REQUIRE ICU care for both persons in a couple that are infected? And how many flus require intubation and assisted ventilator breathing because the body can’t live without that intervention? I’m sure flus have those situations and instances, but does nowhere near the damage this COVID can do. Please take this virus seriously. It’s far more than just another “flu”. I work in healthcare and see the devastation that this virus causes. It’s heartbreaking to know that patients can’t say goodbye to their loved ones when they know they’re going to die, or the families trying to convey their message of love via facetime because they can’t come in the room and physically touch their loved one or hold their hand, or whisper in their ear that it’s ok to let go. Heartbreaking.


    3. Kail is an idiot with a plush house, no worries about feeding her litter, and access to decent healthcare- Gary’s step-dad and all those people in nursing homes are DEAD dude, DEAD. Because of my morons without a healthy respect for something that kills people horrifically.

      Does Kail say it’s worse to live in fear when she’s dangling her kid over a shark, something that kills WAY less people than this virus? Or letting them cross a busy intersection?

      No, because intelligent respect danger and act accordingly.

      And again, no, Gary’s dad isn’t going to get well soon, tf out of here with that.


  12. [* Shield plugin marked this comment as “Trash”. Reason: Failed Bot Test (expired) *]
    Continued prayers for your stepdad Gary and glad to hear ur mom is doing better God Bless you and ur family


  13. Gary I’m a fan of that show. So my prayers are going out to you and all your family. I hope they both pull through it all. Best wishes to improvement and millions of my prayers are going to you all. I’m praying god will bless them to be able to pull through this.


  14. I’m really sorry to hear that the family are going through such a horrible time.
    I’m wishing them a positive and hopefully a speedy recovery.
    My thoughts and prayers are with all of the family.


  15. I am sorry for what everyone has to go through because someone somewhere help this to cross over to humans it doesn’t just happen over night. I will pray for him extra been praying that they find away to stop it. I feel.the same way about praying for everyone in the word right now. I pray he will fast recovery bless you all


  16. Please make sure that the nurses turn him. My friend has a big hole in his back from a bed sore. He also was fighting for his life with the virus for a month. Your stepfathet has a long battle ahead of him. Wishing him all the best in his recovery.


  17. [* Shield plugin marked this comment as “Trash”. Reason: Failed Bot Test (expired) *]
    Sending healing prayers their way Love.


  18. Scary situation. I haven’t watched OG in many years so I never saw Jody and missed the whole fiasco about Gary’s mom gettin’ down back in the day. But if Jody was Gary’s father figure for much of his life then Jody must be a pretty good guy seeing how Gary is an excellent father and family man (even to his cray baby mama).


  19. [* Shield plugin marked this comment as “Trash”. Reason: Failed Bot Test (expired) *]
    Praying for healing and for strength 🙏❤️


  20. I wonder if Kail thinks it’s real now since it’s hit so close to home. I hope he makes a speedy and full recovery.


    1. I’ll never forget the post she made about how her “11 year old son shouldn’t be coming home worried about covid 19!” Ridiculous and ignorant. Wonder how she feels now that covid has turned our world upside down? Yes kails of the world, your kids should be concerned (as appropriate for their ages)!!! Teach them to cover coughs, sneezes, and wash their hands. Stop being ignorant!

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