Kostadin “Kay” Stoyanov outside of his Northfield studio condominium. (Photo by Karie Angell Luc/For Chronicle Media)

Life is for the living but life has strong-armed Kostadin “Kay” Stoyanov of Northfield.

Kay, a certified immunizer, has given more than 11,000 shots often with 100 COVID-19 boosters per day during his Walgreens career. Kay had COVID-19 twice himself.

COVID-19 infection was a cause of death of Kay’s wife Stephanie Molini (Stoyanov) of Buffalo Grove who died on Dec. 13, 2021. She was 38 weeks pregnant with their first child and son Logan Joseph “Joe” Stoyanov.

Logan was also pronounced dead at Advocate Lutheran General Hospital in the same Park Ridge city his mother was born in on Nov. 26, 1991.

Logan’s death record indicates the baby was five minutes old and died at 6:55 p.m. of cardiac failure and nontraumatic placental abruption. Stephanie was pronounced dead at 7:12 p.m.

Kostadin “Kay” Stoyanov and his mother Elena Stoyanov of Glenview look at family photos on a cell phone at Kay’s Northfield studio condominium on Jan. 8, 2023. (Photo by Karie Angell Luc/For Chronicle Media)

Kay, 39, lives alone, but has kept Ellie, 3, the female Shih-Poo he and Stephanie had since Ellie was a puppy. Kay is right-handed, favoring his right arm to pick up Ellie. Ellie is essentially Kay’s comfort dog.

Kay’s left forearm, typically covered by a long sleeve, has large, raised fistula bumps after years of kidney dialysis treatment to that arm.

In 1992, Kay moved to Chicago from Bulgaria, relocating to Skokie and then to Glenview with parents Ogy and Elena Stoyanov. He was 8, needing kidney treatment.

His sister Gergana, 43, Kay’s potential kidney transplant match, was raised by grandparents in Bulgaria. Kay saw Gergana in 2014 when he visited Bulgaria.

A high five between pals. Finding comfort with his pup is Kostadin “Kay” Stoyanov at his Northfield studio condominium on Jan. 8, 2023. The dog, Ellie, 2, a female Shih-Poo, was obtained when she was a puppy by Kay and his late wife Stephanie. (Photo by Karie Angell Luc/For Chronicle Media)

Gergana, married with two children, has never traveled here, even for emergency medical reasons. Gergana was not allowed to travel for her brother Kay’s Jan. 11, 2020 wedding in Rosemont.

With American medicine, Kay survived three kidney transplants in 1995, 2007 and 2016. He goes three times a week to a Vernon Hills dialysis center for four-hour shifts to drain fluid and filter toxins to stay alive.

But on Tuesday, Dec. 14, 2021, Kay almost gave up.

While on dialysis the night before, on Monday, Dec. 13, 2021, a worried Kay kept calling Stephanie’s cell phone.

Stephanie was being driven to the hospital from the couple’s Buffalo Grove condominium, Kay said, when Stephanie stopped breathing. Kay overheard screaming for paramedics to intervene when Stephanie’s driver, a family member, picked up the phone.

According to a Des Plaines police report, first responders assisted at Rand Road and Meadow Drive.

“I never thought this would have happened,” Kay said.

Arriving for his 5:30 p.m. appointment. A holiday tree flanks an empty waiting room as Stoyanov enters DaVita Lake County Dialysis Services (565 Lakeview Parkway) in Vernon Hills. Stoyanov is carrying luggage holding pillows and a blanket for a bed he will use for the four-hour dialysis treatment he must do three times per week. (Photo by Karie Angell Luc/For Chronicle Media)

Thirty minutes into dialysis, Kay was disconnected from treatment and drove “crying” from Lake County to Park Ridge where a chaplain met Kay at the emergency room door. A doctor confirmed the deaths of mother and child.

Kay saw his deceased wife at the hospital. He never saw Logan.

“I did not want to because that image would just haunt me forever,” Kay said of his baby boy.

The next morning, Kay needed to return to dialysis.

“I didn’t want to go, I was like, ‘What’s the point of living?’ I was going to build a family, I mean, that was my purpose,” Kay said. “I always wanted to be a father.

“I’m like, ‘I have no purpose, why should I go to dialysis anymore? There’s nothing to live for.’ But my parents obviously made me. They were sitting next to me while I was getting dialyzed.”

Kostadin “Kay” Stoyanov shows a cell phone photo of his late wife Stephanie and Kay in Clearwater, Florida, posted during summer of 2018 at their July 26, 2018 engagement. Kay asked Stephanie to marry him while the two were on a pier in Clearwater Beach for the engagement moment. Taken on Jan. 8, 2023 in Northfield. (Photo by Karie Angell Luc/For Chronicle Media)

Stephanie waited to get the COVID-19 series and planned to get vaccinated shortly after Logan was born. In 2021, Kay had also not received COVID-19 shots.

“I didn’t think there was enough research into these COVID vaccinations,” Kay recalled. “There were no studies that they’re safe on pregnant women.”

Kay has since had his COVID-19 immunizations.

“You can’t turn back time,” Kay said. “I do think people should be vaccinated but that is their choice. “People should speak to their doctor and make a choice for what’s best for them.”

After receiving medical advice, Stephanie was confident her COVID-19 symptoms would stabilize, Kay said. Since the deaths, Kay has not talked to Stephanie’s health-care providers.

“There’s no point,” said Kay, who has no plans for legal action.

On Jan. 8, 2022, the visitation had overflow attendance at a Niles funeral home.

Kay, several immediate family members and a close friend contracted COVID-19 from that funeral.

Kay also tested positive for COVID-19 on Dec. 13, 2022 on the one-year anniversary of the deaths of Stephanie and Logan.

The urn at the visitation was placed near Stephanie’s wedding portrait. The urn, which Stephanie and Logan share, is in a glass viewing case at a local cemetery.

“Remember me. Love you, Logan.!!!” Kostadin “Kay” Stoyanov shows a footprint of his late infant boy Logan Joe Stoyanov. “I like the way it sounded,” Kay said of Logan’s name. Taken on Jan. 8, 2023 in Northfield. (Photo by Karie Angell Luc/For Chronicle Media)

Kay has brought Ellie to the cemetery, recalling, “I just held her,” he said of his pup. Kay mostly visits alone.

“My hope? I talk to my wife every day,” Kay said. “I would like to think that she hears me. What I’m hoping, that they are in a better place, that they’re looking down on us and that one day I’ll be together with them.”

A decade ago, Kay’s Northbrook Walgreens colleagues organized a kidney transplant donor fund at a Northbrook bank for a living kidney donor.

Kay’s 2016 transplant ensued without a living kidney donor (cadaver’s kidney). The fund’s $2,000 went to the purchase of the couple’s home in 2018. Kay downsized last summer to a Northfield studio condo.

On Jan. 9, Kay began a Walgreens special assignment corporate position after being a Walgreens Glenview pharmacy operations manager.

This photograph was taken in October of 2014 in Northbrook of Kostadin “Kay” Stoyanov. He is showing his left arm which has fistula bumps from years of kidney dialysis treatments. This image was taken down the alley from the Northbrook Walgreens where Stoyanov worked for several years. (Photo by Karie Angell Luc/For Chronicle Media)

Stephanie, a healthcare recruiter, had a history of certified senior pharmacy technician status and worked at the Northbrook Walgreens.

Kay keeps their son’s footprint on his cell phone along with images from the couple’s wedding shower and their Clearwater, Florida 2018 engagement.

There are no framed photographs in Kay’s grayscale decor condo. A bed pillow, a gift to Kay and Stephanie, warmly reads, “Love you more.”

“I just kept it,” Kay said of the pillow. “I love Stephanie and Logan more.”

Karie Angell Luc is a multimedia journalist who lives near the Northbrook Walgreens where she maintains certified senior pharmacy technician status and is a certified immunizer who part time administers COVID-19 and other allowable immunizations. She met Kostadin “Kay” Stoyanov about a decade ago at the Northbrook Walgreens (1050 N. Waukegan Road) and has documented his kidney transplant journey since then in columns.