A 24-year-old boy in Texas was hospitalized due to the coronavirus in late April. He finally went home this week, after 79 days. The hospital said that Paola Castillo was “near death” during her stay.
Castillo arrived at the emergency room on April 27 with shortness of breath, cough and fever, according to a press release issued by the hospital, Medical City North Hills in Texas. She had been experiencing symptoms for six days before leaving.
“After testing positive for coronavirus, she was unable to manage on her own and sought emergency care,” the statement read. “Her symptoms quickly worsened and she was placed on a ventilator for the first 24 hours at Medical City North Hills.”
Castillo did not get off the fan for more than a month. Her husband and mother were told it was “touch and go,” and she recalls seeing only a few interactions with staff.
“I saw a light,” Castillo said as he recovered, according to the hospital. “That light was God telling me it was time to wake up.”
After 67 days in the hospital, Castillo was helped out so that she could feel the rain. She had to regain the ability to speak, swallow, and walk after leaving the ventilator, and took her first steps since joining on July 3.
Since then, Castillo tested negative for the coronavirus, but his path to recovery is “far from over after discharge,” the hospital said. However, his staff is “celebrating their fighting spirit and remarkable recovery against all odds.”
Castillo said it never occurred to him that he could get the virus, reports CBS DFW.
“Maybe if I had listened and put on a mask, something simple, I would have avoided all of this,” he said. “I work in a bank, I’m always surrounded by people, but it was like I was fine, I’m fine. I never thought I’d catch him.”
Castillo contracted COVID-19 before cases exploded in Texas in recent weeks. The number of infections there is now increasing. According to the Texas Department of State Health Services, more than 282,000 cases have been reported in the state, including 10,791 new cases reported on Wednesday.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott did not encourage the use of face masks until recently. He issued an executive order earlier this month that required masks in public, but an increasing number of bailiffs have said they will refuse to enforce it.
Dr. Hetal Rana, a physician at Medical City North Hills, told CBS DFW that they are seeing more and more young patients, like Castillo, contract the virus. The COVID-19 unit at the hospital has been almost full for over a month.
“We have seen a lot of negativity,” said Rana. “We have seen many patients die in our hospital who were in their situation.”
Rana said hospital staff is exhausted, but Castillo’s recovery has given them hope.
“It just revitalizes you and gives you a sense of what it means to save someone’s life and help someone overcome a disease as serious as this,” he said.
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