KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Philip Nagy did not know if he'd ever be able to hug his wife again. In the coronavirus ICU at the University of Tennessee Medical Center, he was all alone, and could barely breathe by himself.
Doctors discussed putting the otherwise healthy 46-year-old on a ventilator. For days, he battled COVID-19.
"It was just a very scary experience," Nagy said. "I’ve never had a hospital overnight stay before in my life."
For 11 days, he fought off the virus.
"It was touch and go for a while," he said.
At home, his high school sweetheart turned wife Kathy prayed on her knees. She said she did not know if he would make it.
"You saw the pictures," she said. "You could hear it in his voice. And you hear the machines in the background and you don't know. You just don't know."
But the Nagy's story has a happy ending, or at least a happy twist: the end is far from near.
"When they said I was going to go home, I looked at the doctor and I said don’t kid me," Philip Nagy said. "It could've gone either way for me. I could still be in there right now."
"Just the thought that I could put my arms around my family again," he said. "We're a very close family and to see them with signs supporting daddy. And to just be out, it's phenomenal. It's a phenomenal feeling."
In all, Nagy spent 11 days in the hospital. His oxygen levels dropped so low he said he qualified for a clinical trial, which gave him access to blood plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients.
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Despite being allowed to return home, he is not out of the woods yet.
Doctors said it could take six months before his lungs fully recover from the virus. At home, Nagy has to take breaks and use oxygen to make it up the 17 steps to his bedroom.
"I would say I’m far from full recovery. I would say I made it out of the hospital," he said.
Nagy's doctor said the family was doing everything right to prevent getting the virus. They let their guard down just one time and that was enough for coronavirus to devastate Phil Nagy's body.
Now, he wants to share his story to encourage others to take every precaution against the virus.
"The best thing you can do when you go out the door is to grab your cellphone, grab your car keys and grab your mask to show your support for the community," he said.
At home with his two kids, Nagy said he feels lucky. "Like I just won the lottery," he said.
"He’s a fighter. A big fighter. And we’re so happy to have him home," Kathy Nagy said, her head on her husband's shoulder once again.