Champlin man returns home after weeks spent in hospital battling COVID-19
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A Minnesota man is sharing his recovery from COVID-19.
Jeff McLaughlin spent more than a week on a ventilator and is now back at his Champlin home self-isolating.
He's a husband and a father of two. In late March, he went to the doctor's office to check up on a digestive issue, but a week-and-a-half later, he started feeling sick.
"I went into work and about 2 o'clock I started getting a fever," McLaughlin said.
Quickly, his symptoms worsened.
Jeff McLaughlin.[KSTP]
"My temperature got up to 103.9," he said.
At that point, he was preparing to be admitted to the hospital.
"So he had COVID and then he also had bacterial pneumonia, so he was very sick," said Tracy McLaughlin, Jeff's wife.
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Doctors told him he would be put on a ventilator, so he called his wife, who, because of coronavirus, wasn't able to be by his side.
"At 2 a.m., I get the call and he is very scared and he said 'this is it,'" Tracy said.
"I didn't want to die alone, and I wanted to make sure my wife and kids were taken care of," Jeff said.
For eight days, Jeff was on a ventilator.
"It was terrifying, a fear that I have never experienced," added Tracy.
But determined to get back to his family, Jeff continued to make strides.
"They gave me plasma, and that's when everything turned for the positive, it saved my life," Jeff said.
Then, after 18 days in the hospital, Jeff was able to come home. His loved ones are grateful for all the doctors and nurses as he continues to get better every day.
"The nurses were awesome, and they would try to read his handwriting and he was quite a trooper. The nurses said he was like a miracle man," Tracy said.
"It is beyond words to just describe the [number] of people that helped me through this," Jeff said.
To help donate to cover any medical expenses the McLaughlin's are facing, click here.