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New Mexico man goes home after 550 days in hospital for COVID-19

by Sarah Polus - 03/06/22 5:53 PM ET

A New Mexico man has been discharged from the hospital about a year and a half after being admitted for COVID-19, reported KOB 4.

Roswell resident Donnell Hunter was honored with a police escort when he finally left the hospital after 550 days.

“I can’t even put it into words,” Hunter said of being able to return home to his family after a period of more than 18 months, much of which was spent on a ventilator.

He added that he has had to re-learn basic functions as a result of his extensive illness.

“I lost usage of my hands of my arms, of everything … so I had to wait for all that to come back and do a lot of rehab, speech therapy, learn how to eat, learn how to swallow — I had to learn everything all over again,” he told the local New Mexico news outlet.

Since returning home, Hunter has started to make up for lost time, including meeting his new grandson for the first time.

“The Lord knows what he has in store for me, I don’t, he brought me this far and I’m just going to trust in the lord whatever he brings my way that’s what I will deal with,” he said.

As of March, 472,426 COVID-19 cases have been categorized as recovered by the New Mexico Department of Health.

Tags COVID-19 pandemic New Mexico