LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Los Angeles resident Francisco Garcia tested positive for COVID-19 in April and says he does not know how he caught it.
Francisco Garcia, 31, who spent nearly four months in hospital with coronavirus (COVID-19) disease, is recovering on August 19, 2020 from his home in Los Angeles, California, USA. REUTERS / Lucy Nicholson
When he returned, the 31-year-old had planned to leave the house because he was afraid of bringing the virus home and infecting his family. His mother has cancer and his sister has lupus.
The symptoms were mild at first: fever and headache, but Garcia’s condition almost worsened.
‘A few days later I couldn’t breathe that much and I felt like a panic attack. “My sister called the paramedics and they came and just took me to the hospital,” he said in an interview on Wednesday.
Garcia does not remember pain. All he can remember is being in a hospital near his house. Then he was awakened in another hospital with a tube inserted into his nose.
His family looked helpless as he was transferred in total between four different hospitals.
“In the second hospital, they just told my father that the only reason he was still alive was because of the medication they were giving him,” Garcia’s sister Lorena said, explaining how the family had to make difficult choices with his medical care. .
“Then two or three days passed and that’s when he started bleeding from his brain.”
Garcia slipped into a coma and doctors advised his family to suspend his life support. But his mother and sister never gave up hope, and eventually he woke up.
The primary caregiver at home, Garcia was devastated when he was told he had been in the hospital for four months.
‘Just knowing that my mother and sister are sick … and I can do nothing about it. That kind of hurt me, ‘he said, back in tears.
Garcia was released from the hospital two weeks ago, and is now recovering at home. He says he wants his old life back.
‘Before all this happened, I was an active child. I would go basketball, walk, bike, “he said.
“From now on, I will do everything I can to get on with my life and do everything I can to improve my life and my life as well.”
Report by Norma Galeana; Edited by Karishma Singh and Christopher Cushing
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