A Filipino American nurse who many feared would die from the coronavirus walked out of the hospital to the cheers of her co-workers.
As People reports, doctors at St. Mary’s Medical Center in Long Beach, CA diagnosed 66-year-old Merlin Pambuan with COVID-19 in the spring. She had been a patient there for eight months where she worked tirelessly for four decades.
“I’ve been taking care of critical patients, now they’re taking care of me,” Pambuan said right before her release to Balitang America. “They really care about me.”
Doctors told Balitang America that it would be not an exaggeration to say she was near death.
“I would say a half a dozen times she was very near death. We had hard time keeping her oxygen and we had to use a lot of treatment to improve her oxygen, said Dr. Maged Tanios.
Despite the odds, Pambuan beat the odds and walked out of the hospital without the assistance of a wheel chair.
“I said, ‘No, I’m going to fight this COVID,’” she recounted. “I start moving my hand (and) a physical therapist come and say, ‘Oh, you’re moving your hands,’ and I said, ‘Oh, I’m going to fight, I’m going to fight. I’m trying to wiggle my toes. I’m going to fight it.’” Reuters reported she said.
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