A Fort Myers COVID-19 survivor’s six month journey to recovery

A Fort Myers man was given just a ten percent chance of survival after contracting COVID-19. Luckily, he lived to tell about his six-month-long recovery process.

The story begins with a negative COVID-19 test. But, the sigh of relief for Ed Knutt and his family didn’t last very long. He kept getting sicker by the day.

But Friday marks a milestone first step for Knutt. “The physical therapist came up; she put a walker in front of me and said ‘you’re going to stand today on your own and you’re gonna walk,'” Knutt said. “It was very emotional for me.”

Six months ago, Ed and his wife, Marti, feared that Ed may never walk again. They didn’t even think he’d make it to the new year. COVID-19 was hitting him hard.

“That Sunday, his face was literally purple and I’m like and we’ve got to take you to the hospital,” said Ed’s wife, Marti Gillen.

“And, they hustled her back out of the building and put me in a wheelchair. And literally, before I hit the doors to the emergency room, going into the actual emergency area I passed out,” said Knutt.

Ed slipped into a coma, and when doctors tried to bring him out of it, he went into cardiac arrest. So, they had to put him back into a coma.

“I recollect everything from that coma. I recollect nurses in the background talking and it was literally pure hell for those five days,” Knutt said.

“I said to the doctor I said what are his chances of survival and he had about a 10% chance of survival,” Gillen said. “One day, I went outside and I just put my hands up and I said ‘either you take him or you make him turn around.'”

Ed’s lungs stopped working. So, he spent quite some time on a ventilator. Marti couldn’t see or be with him during that time. And, she was afraid every time the phone rang.

“I’m not a good prayer. I believe in the power of the universe but we’ve had people like friends of mine we told their friends. We’ve literally had people all over the country praying for him,” said Gillen.

Ed did eventually start to get better. He had surgery in Orlando and slowly began to regain his strength. Now, he’s putting one foot in front of the other and walking again. He’s finally allowed back home.

“I have my husband and he’s coming home and whatever we have to do the bottom line for me is that he’s coming home, he’s coming home,” Gillen said.

Marti and Ed say they are so grateful to every doctor, nurse and hospital staff member who helped and cared for him. They’re also thankful to everyone who said a prayer for him.

He hopes to go home before the end of January.