A 43-year-old spent 549 days in hospitals after contracting Covid-19 in September 2020 – long before vaccines were available. Now he finally made it home.
In the past year and a half, Donnell H. has missed his daughter’s first day of kindergarten, an entire football season for his son, the birth of his grandson and countless other events because he had to fight an extremely long fight against Covid-19 – which is finally about to be successful seems.
“I don’t take anything for granted anymore, that’s clear. I’ve spent 550 days without seeing my children, I have a grandson that I haven’t seen,” H. told US broadcaster CNN on Monday Friday he is now back home in Roswell, in the US state of New Mexico.
4.5 million Americans hospitalized for Covid-19
Donnell is one of the 4.5 million Americans who have been hospitalized due to Covid-19 since the US agency began keeping statistics on it in August 2020. His medical history is particularly unusual as the average length of hospital stay for adults was 5.5 days during Omicron, compared to 8 days last winter and 7.6 days during the Delta variant. At the beginning of his ordeal, no Covid vaccines were available.
Meanwhile, Donnell’s medical bills continue to flow in, according to CNN. According to H’s family, the last hospital bill alone was over one million US dollars (approx. 910,000 euros).
Since H. is not yet able to breathe completely on his own due to the still existing Covid 19 complications – which no longer require inpatient treatment – the family is now adjusting to their new life. H. now receives the temporary artificial respiration that is still necessary at home.
“I just couldn’t breathe”
Donnell, who worked as a plant operator at a gas company, was at work in September 2020 when he noticed he was having trouble breathing. “Our shift started at seven o’clock, […] and I just couldn’t breathe,” he said. It was so bad that he asked his boss for a ride to the hospital in Carlsbad, New Mexico.
He went home, but within 24 hours he was back in the hospital with renewed breathing difficulties, H. told CNN. Hospital staff initially told his wife, Ashley, that they could take over his care. Hours later, however, she received word that he was being flown to a larger hospital in the city of Albuquerque, over a three-hour drive away. H. constantly made sure to stay healthy despite some long-term health problems. He frequently trained in the gym and coached youth teams.
“Don’t lose hope!”
However, he was on dialysis for 15 years before finally receiving a kidney transplant in 2015, his wife said. He has been on mechanical ventilation since the fall of 2020 and has spent time at nine different hospitals and long-term acute care facilities in two states, Arizona and New Mexico. On March 4th, however, the time had finally come. Sheriffs escorted H. and his family as they pulled into the town of Roswell, Ashley told CNN. “(My grandson) was the first one I saw and he acted like he knew me all his life,” H added. “He grabbed me and gave me a kiss. It was so great.”
“First of all, I want to thank God,” summarizes H. “The support I’ve had from my family is incredible.” For anyone in a similar situation, H. encouraged via CNN: “Don’t lose hope !”
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Source: Stern
