DENVER — So many families are now sharing their COVID-19 recovery stories.
One Aurora family has five of them -- five recovery stories -- ending with a big celebration on Friday afternoon.
“It’s a miracle,” said Dianna McPhail. “I feel like we’ve been through a war zone.”
Dianna McPhail’s husband, Ronne McPhail, was admitted to the hospital in late March and tested positive for the virus. He spent weeks fighting COVID-19 at St. Joseph Hospital in Denver.
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He wouldn’t be the only family member to get sick.
“Five of us got COVID,” Dianna McPhail said. “I ended up at St. Joe’s below Ron in the ER. My son, Jefferey, was at Children’s.”
Dianna McPhail said her daughter and son-in-law were also diagnosed with the virus. Four of them recovered.
But Ronne McPhail’s battle continued for weeks.
“My husband was put on a ventilator twice, almost three times,” she said. “There were so many times they would call me and didn’t know if he would make it.”
“The worst part about all this is, our family and all the other families out there, you can’t see your loved ones,” said Robert McPhail, their son.
Robert McPhail and his other family members said they are grateful for the doctors and nurses who treated their father, and who also helped family members FaceTime with Ronne McPhail since they couldn’t visit.
“I told them, without them, there’s no way these patients would come back to us, [come back] home,” Dianna McPhail said. “It’s truly because the doctors and nurses are on the front lines.”
Friday afternoon, 32 days after his family says he was admitted, Ronne McPhail was finally released from the hospital.
His family gathered outside the hospital entrance, along with dozens of healthcare workers, to cheer his departure.
Ronne McPhail, 62, will now continue his recovery back home.
His family said he has some underlying health conditions and also a previous cancer diagnosis – which he beat. The husband, father, and grandfather is also a huge Rockies baseball fan. His family said he is looking forward to a non-hospital meal and – specifically - a ballpark hotdog.
Loved ones started an online fundraiser to help the family with medical expenses.
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