Sugar Land family relieved, grateful after family member returns home after battling COVID-19
SUGAR LAND, Texas - A Sugar Land family is feeling relief and gratitude after their loved one was only given a 1% chance of surviving COVID-19, and now he is home.
"Two and a half weeks ago, the doctors called and told me to pack my stuff and go back home because [my father] wasn't going to live through the day," said Max Wolf.
However, his father, Andy Wolf, kept fighting.
"We were able to FaceTime my dad in the ICU even when he was on the ventilator. So, he was unconscious but they let us have a Zoom meeting with him so he could hear our voices," Max recalled. "Even though, he was sedated we could see his vitals going up when he heard my family."
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Andy tested positive for COVID-19 on December 13. A week later, he was hospitalized.
After eight days in the intensive care unit at Houston Methodist Sugar Land Hospital, the 55-year-old's prognosis kept improving.
Max stayed as close to his father as he could. He spent his afternoons, including Christmas, outside the hospital.
"I sat outside the ICU windows and, even though he couldn't hear me, I would still talk to him and told him he was going to make it through and I was ready to have him back home soon," Max told FOX 26.
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Max says his family isn't sure how his father got infected, because they had been careful given his father's underlying health condition. His mother and sister caught COVID-19 too, but their symptoms were mild.
Christmas, Max says, was put on hold until last weekend when his father came home. Already able to walk and breathe on his own.
"I am grateful that we got to celebrate because I know a lot of families did not get to have everybody together this year," Max said.
Max hopes his father's story can inspire others, like it inspires him.
"I hope I can be half as strong as him one day," he said. "He is just [an] absolute pure source of strength and it's amazing to see."
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He also hopes it serves as a reminder to never take the time with our loved ones for granted.
"It definitely brought our family closer. A lot closer. We were close before but it makes time with them much more valuable, because you never know how quick somebody could get sick, how unexpected something could happen," Max concluded.