The news is filled with grim figures relating to the coronavirus pandemic raging throughout the world.
This is why it’s easy to forget that while there have been many deaths and infections, there have also been recoveries.
And one Ohio man who survived his ordeal with COVID-19 made sure that the medical personnel who saved his life knew just how much he appreciated their efforts.
Earlier in March Nic Brown, 38, and an IT executive, tested positive for the virus after he was sent to the medical intensive care unit (MICU) at the Cleveland Clinic Union Hospital in Dover, Ohio. He got sent there because he presented symptoms associated with the coronavirus.
He was immediately isolated and placed on a ventilator. But while he fought to survive, the medical team who care for him never failed to write uplifting messages on his window.
“Every day I was there, especially when I was on a ventilator and full life support, the staff would write on the window the goals for me to try and reach each day,” Brown said as he was interviewed by the Cleveland Clinic for their blog. “They would encourage me. One day someone wrote, ‘We will get you home.’”
Thankfully, Brown made a full recovery and made sure to return the favor.
“This window has been the most impactful window of my life,” he wrote on the glass.
“On days when I watched you work hard to keep me and others alive, unable to thank you for the time that you poured into me and although I will probably never get the chance to pour that same love and support into you, I want you yo know that I think you all are rockstars.
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“I watched some of you have good nights and some bad nights, but what was consistent every night was that you care for people,” his heartwarming note continued. “Today I leave this ICU a changed person, hopefully for the better, not only because of your medical healing and God’s direction and guidance but with the fact of knowing that there are such wonderful people dedicated the care and concern of others.”
The selfless devotion the medical staff displayed, even at the risk of their own lives, compelled Brown to leave that parting message.
“Part of why I left the note on the window is because I don’t know that I’ve ever seen such selfless people in my life. I really saw the love of God through them,” he told the Cleveland Clinic. “They don’t know me, but they cared for me like I was a member of their family. It’s been life-altering.”
Dr. Eduardo Mireles-Cabodevila, a pulmonologist, and director of Cleveland Clinic’s MICU said that Brown was one of the hospital’s first COVID-19 patients.
“We’ve learned a lot from Nic and our other early (COVID-19) patients,” Mireles-Cabodevila said. “When critical illness hits, the way the lungs and other organs recover has to do with the disease itself as well as how we take care of it. We instituted a protocolized approach so they could heal while giving him therapies to control the virus.”
Brown first thought he had come down with the flu. But because he had a history of asthma and heart arrhythmia, he got sent to urgent care near his home before being eventually transferred to the MICU by mid-March.
“You really don’t understand the vulnerability of the human body until you face something like this,” he told the clinic.
“There was a time during this process where the hospital reached out to my wife and had to have a discussion about end-of-life-options. My message is for everyone to take more seriously what the impact of this can have on a person.”
Brown’s inspiring note “meant a lot” to Mireles-Cabodevila and other medical staff at the Cleveland Clinic.
“It’s definitely inspiring to see a patient acknowledge the work we’re doing,“ Jordan Bensch, one of the nurses who cared for Brown, said. “We’re always trying to put patients first. Knowing they notice that is extremely rewarding.”
After nearly two weeks in the hospital, Brown was finally discharged and sent home on March 27.
“Just the ability to get back to the point where I can pick up my two little girls, hug them, and you know, hug my wife. I feel like I’ve got a second chance at life,” he said.
Replaced!