ROGERS, Ark. — A local COVID-19 survivor is sharing his powerful story after spending weeks in the hospital, saying at times he believed he wasn't going to make it.
53-year-old Robert Douthit says COVID-19 is like nothing he's ever experienced before. He spent nearly three weeks at Mercy Hospital in Rogers.
He says it was the worst time of his life struggling to stay alive while alone in the hospital.
“I just could not get my body to do what I was supposed to do and it was so frightening and scary because I thought 'this is it I’m going to die'," Douthit said.
Douthit, who served as a medic in Afghanistan, was diagnosed with the virus in early June. He says one day he was healthy, and the next he could hardly breathe.
"I was in so much pain that night and I got to the hospital," he said. "They kept me there for about four hours have me some pain medication and for the nausea under control and said there wasn’t really much more they could do because I wasn’t having any respiratory problems so they went ahead and sent me home.”
After being wheeled out of the hospital, Douthit drove himself to his mother-in-law's house which was vacant prior to his arrival. The family set up the home with supplies so he could quarantine.
Less than 24 hours later, his wife Karyn couldn't reach him, so she called 911 and Douthit ended up right back in the hospital. His wife helplessly watched the paramedics suit up and wheel her husband out of the home through a Ring doorbell camera.
“I was pretty much unresponsive when they got here," Douthit said. "I don’t remember them coming to get me or anything. I just remember waking up in the hospital hours later."
Douthit says his days in the hospital felt like a nightmare.
“I needed to use the restroom, they helped me to get up and I stopped breathing, and that happened to me for two to three days anytime that I moved around very much I’d stopped breathing for 30-40 seconds at a time," he said.
Fast forward to today. Douthit is a survivor and is on the road to a full recovery.
“It really messed me up," he said. "My lungs are still not recovered, my immune system everything. It’s like I’ve been through a war."
Douthit says he wants to share his story in hopes others might understand what the virus is capable of. The retired fireman admits before his diagnosis, he thought it couldn't possibly be that bad.
“I’m like 'this isn’t going to happen to me, because I’m healthy'," he said.
Douthit's wife Karyn signed papers while he was in the hospital for doctors to administer convalescent plasma as well as two other research drugs.
He has since gone back to work part-time while he continues to gain his strength back. He says he lost 18 pounds while in the hospital.