After two hospitals, 54 days on a ventilator and six weeks in a coma, the discharge of pastor Benjamin Thomas from Mount Sinai Hospital is indeed, a miracle.
"You know, I'm a miracle, not that many people came out after 100 days of treatment from the hospital, recovered from COVID-19," Thomas said.
Thomas, the senior pastor of Queens Church of God, was as active as any healthy man in his 50's when he diagnosed with COVID-19 in March.
He spent 10 days in a hospital in Long Island where his condition was declining rapidly, so his family had him transferred to Mount Sinai in April, where he was placed in the COVID-19 ICU unit.
"Later they are telling me the stories, horror stories, I was basically dead a couple of times," Thomas said.
Dr. Robin Varghese of Mount Sinai Hospital, says there was one night on April 20, where he thought he was going to lose Thomas.
"At that point i just had a prayer to God and said, lord I've given him everything I could, and I said he has to take over," Varghese said.
After that night, Dr. Varghese says there was a change in Thomas' condition.
"He slowly made progress on the ventilator, first with coming down on the amount of oxygen required, and the stiffness of his lungs started to improve," Varghese said.
Thomas has been home almost two weeks now and is getting better.
"Prayer played a big role in my recovery, and I truly believe that," Thomas said.
WATCH THE SERIES: EYEWITNESS TO A PANDEMIC (Episode 6 below)
Eyewitness to a Pandemic: Episode 6 - To the Streets
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