COVID-19 survivor beats the odds and returns home after 6-month hospital stay

A man was back home in his own bed Thursday night after winning the battle against the coronavirus, a six-month-long quest. His doctors told him he had a 10% chance of survival, but he beat the odds.

Ed Knutt and his family reached the moment they waited half a year for.

It was the moment he’d get out of his wheelchair, walk out of Lee Memorial Hospital COVID-19-free and hug the people who saved his life and go home.

“I didn’t envision getting this far, so being able to walk out here was a big deal,” Knutt said.

“I never thought it was going to happen,” said Marti Gillen, Knutt’s wife.

COVID-19 knocked Knutt off his feet in July, and he fought a long and hard battle ever since.

“I was in two comas and cardiac arrest,” Knutt explained. “When I came out of the second coma, I barely had use of my limbs. I couldn’t talk, and it was, it was miserable.”

“I actually already found in the middle of all of this what I was going to say at his eulogy,” Gillen said.

But with prayers, time and care from hospital staff, things started to turn around. Knutt started to take steps toward recovery, and even when he lost hope, he says his doctors and nurses never did.

“They all believed in me when I didn’t think it was possible,” Knutt said.

Even though he’s still recovering, Ed and Marti are grateful for the moment he could return home.

“I’m very overwhelmed with the whole matter, thinking about where I was not even two months ago,” Knutt said. “I came over here using a walker and I walked out today.”

Ed Knutt’s lungs are still badly damaged. Doctors say it will take a year and a half for him to fully recover, but he is confident he will continue to get better each day.

“We and I have been through so much these past six months,” Gillen said. “All the unknown that whole time that what I went through these past six months. Anything else, we can get through that together.”