Seventy-four year Glenn Perkins left St. Luke’s Warren Hospital after a month-long battle with COVID-19. He said he’s feeling great.
“Hopefully I’m better,” he said, “and I give all that credit to my Lord and Savior.”
It was a sound and a sight that seemed unimaginable two weeks ago. Perkins spent 20 days on a ventilator after testing positive for COVID-19. When he no longer responded to the FaceTime commands of his daughter Patty Segeda, doctors told the family to make funeral plans.
“My sisters and I had a cry, we cried together, and we started making telephone calls,” Segeda said.
Three weeks ago, Segeda first spoke to NJTV News about the family’s frustrations while trying to care for him remotely.
“People need to understand that when a loved one may become so sick that they need to go to the hospital that you leave your loved one at the door,” she said.
But, then the sisters heard of the potential healing power of antibodies in blood plasma from a coronavirus-recovered patient. Miraculously, St. Luke’s had just received some from a donor. On Good Friday, Perkins became the first COVID-19 patient in St. Luke’s Mayo Clinic national trial to get a plasma injection. On Easter Sunday, the hospital called Patty to recommend removing Perkins from the ventilator, and then to say he’s off and breathing on his own.
“I started crying. I didn’t know what to do,” his daughter said.
RELATED: Family shares story of ‘miraculous’ COVID-19 recovery
While the clinical trial aims to determine whether the antibodies led to Perkins’ recovery, Perkins says thanks for not giving up him.
“They always treated me like I was part of their family,” he said.
“It helps to lift the spirits of our staff because they can see the results of their efforts,” said Scott Wolfe, president of St. Juke’s Warren Hospital.
“My legs are weak, and that stops me from playing horseshoes. But one good thing: My daughters can go out and get Chick Fil-A for me,” Perkins said.
Perkins is now recuperating at another daughter’s house as the sisters come and take turns caring for him and giving him oxygen and arranging visits from well-wishers.
