Florida woman, 55, beats coronavirus 150 days after being admitted to hospital where doctors didn't expect her to live following 67 days on life support
A Florida woman is celebrating overcoming her 150-day battle with COVID-19.
Isabel Pupo, 55, was admitted to Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach back in July with a serious case of coronavirus. She was also suffering from pneumonia.
'I actually told the family on numerous occasions, unfortunately, that she was going to pass away and we are going to have to stop,' Dr. Steven DeBeer told CBSMiami, referring to her ECMO life support.
Pupo's high BMI made it risky to hook her up to an ECMO machine, which temporarily provides support to take the place of lung and heart functions.
Eventually, Pupo was selected for ECMO machine treatment, which lasted 67 days, during which her breathing was still a struggle.
'I remember listening to my daughter’s voice from the phone,' Pupo said about being in a medically induced coma.
'They would put the phone near my ear and all I remember was that she would say, fight for me.
'Before I got intubated, I looked at the ceiling and told God Please help me. I thought of them.'
BEFORE AND AFTER: Isabel Pupo, 55, was admitted to Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach back in July with a serious case of coronavirus. She is pictured in hospital while battling the virus and right, after
Pupo miraculously took a turn for the better and saw her lungs heal and her oxygen levels increase, finally beating COVID-19 after five months.
She was discharged from Mount Sinai Medical Center in November and spent three months at a rehab facility before finally returning home this month.
'I am a miracle of God,' Pupo said. 'I am the proof that God exists. I have to repeat scientifically, I was not supposed to live.'
'I have to repeat scientifically, I was not supposed to live,' Pupo said to CBSMiami
Pupo was discharged from the Mount Sinai Medical Center in November
While many can recover shortly after suffering from COVID-19, others can struggle with the virus for lengthy periods of time, like Pupo.
Others can experience 'long' COVID, where at least some symptoms persist for at least several months.
Florida continues to be a state hit hard by COVID-19, reporting 5,549 new cases and 110 new deaths on Saturday.
As of Saturday, over 3 million people in Florida have received at least one dose of the vaccine, while 1,693,485, or 7.88 percent of the population of the state has been fully vaccinated. Those numbers bring the total number of cases in the state to 1,903,682 and the death toll to 30,734.
In the United States, there have been over 28.54 million COVID-19 cases, with 511,787 deaths.
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