Special gratitude on Thanksgiving from local COVID-19 survivors

MISSOURI CITY, Texas - On a day when there will be chairs left empty at far too many tables, there is still plenty of reason to celebrate those who suffered but survived the terrible COVID-19 pandemic.  

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For a couple in Missouri City, a lifetime of love and devotion was quite nearly de-railed during the darkest days of the pandemic.

In 2020, husband Adriel Mercier and wife, Christal, contracted the vicious virus and were forced simultaneously from their home into St. Luke's, MO.

When her "Poppie" took a hard turn for the worse, Christal sent a heartrending message via Facetime from her hospital bed to his.

"You're still in ICU and you are on a ventilator and I need you to fight! I don’t want to leave you," said Christal, her voice cracking with worry. "I love you Poppie, please fight. I am going to wait for you to come home."

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Slowly, and mercifully, the COVID-19 tide turned and both Christal and Poppie pulled through. More than a year later, healed in both body and spirit, gratitude in the Mercier house abounds.

"The thing is when you have people right there, you don't appreciate them," said Christal on a break from cooking the Thanksgiving feast. "You take them for granted, but when I almost lost him, it was like, I let him know I love him."

"God gave us a chance to really look at each other and I don't care if we living like Tarzan and Jane, it's all good," said Adriel.

"I don't even sweat the small stuff," said Christal of her days after recovery.

For Christal and Adriel, the biggest dividend of more days, is new life - as in their granddaughter Austin.

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On this day of gathering and Thanksgiving, blessings for a couple, back from the brink, come no bigger.

And aside from food and fellowship, you will find in their home wisdom and goodwill, hard-earned
in the hardest of times.

"If you got malice and hatred and envy and strife in your heart, throw that in the trash can. You know, it's all about love, care, peace, and forgiveness," said Adriel.

"It wasn't meant for everybody to still be here and I thank God that he allowed us, but my heart goes out to those who have lost loved ones," said Christal.

"At the end of the day, love conquers all of this crap. It really does," said Adriel.

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"My prayer is that God will bless them and keep them from all hurt, harm, danger, death, temptation, and trouble," said Christal before leaving to feed a grateful family.