INKSTER, Mich. – A couple is sharing their experience fighting coronavirus because they want everyone to know it can be beaten.
Update May 10, 2020: Michigan coronavirus (COVID-19) cases up to 47,138; Death toll now at 4,551
Charlunda Thompson works in hospice care and her husband, David, is a middle school teacher.
They were apart for 45 days fighting the COVID-19. Sunday was the first time they had seen each other in person since.
Both went to get evaluated at Beaumont Dearborn in March. Charlunda was admitted right away and David was sent home.
Charlunda spent 29 days at the hospital -- 16 on a ventilator. She said she had no idea if her husband was okay.
“The hardest part was waking up in the ICU," Charlunda said. "I didn’t have any family around, not knowing if I would see him again.”
She didn’t know that David was rushed to Beaumont Wayne and his body was shutting down.
David’s sister, a doctor, told him to do whatever to took to sit up on the side of the bed, be alert, and talk to her for seven hours straight -- which made it easier for him to breathe.
“I felt like crying," David said. "I just felt like if I went to sleep, I wasn’t going to wake back up, so I said, ‘I am not going to go back asleep.’”
Both Charlunda and David pulled through and the couple was reunited at the Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital where Charlunda had to learn to walk again.
The couple will celebrate their 21st anniversary in June.
Anyone who believes they might have coronavirus should follow the CDC guidelines. Michigan.gov has a list of resources available to those concerned about COVID-19.
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