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A Florida woman says it was her husband's daily messages of love held up outside the window of her hospital bed that kept her going through her terrifying battle with COVID-19.
Donna Crane of Port Orange is safe at home after spending nearly two weeks in intensive care with acute respiratory failure after contracting COVID-19 and developing severe symptoms. "It is the most terrifying thing you will ever experience in your life, just laying there not being able to take a breath," Crane said in an interview Tuesday with WESH 2 News.
But the worst part, according to Crane, was not being able to see her husband, Gary Crane, since visitors were not allowed for safety reasons.
"I couldn't see him and that was the hardest part—is not being able to have somebody there," Donna said.
Donna found strength and solace during her "terrifying" time in the ICU through her husband's creative way of showing her his love and support from a safe distance. Every morning before he went to work as a lieutenant with a nearby Fire and Rescue, Gary came to the parking lot outside the ICU and held up big block letter cut-outs he made spelling "I love U" under Donna's window.
"The nurses would sit me up in the bed and let me look out the window, let me see he was there at 8 a.m. and I knew, 'OK. We're going to, we're going to do this,'" Donna said.
"I just wanted her to know that because I know she was going to be scared and I couldn't be there with her and I just wanted her to know that I'm here," Gary explained.
In addition to her loving support from her husband, Donna said thinking about holding her grandchild kept her going.
"I just found out my daughter is expecting. We're going to be grandparents, and that went through my mind. I want to hold my baby," Donna said.
Donna is still recovering and was still on oxygen at the time of her interview. However, she is at home with her husband in order to continue on her road to recovery, which, Donna told her interviewer, she is aware will be a long one.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the best way to avoid acute respiratory failure or other serious symptoms resulting from COVID-19 is to get vaccinated. The vast majority of people who are fully vaccinated will not contract the illness. Those who do will have mild or no symptoms, and will usually not require hospitalization.
Newsweek reached out to Donna Crane for comment but did not hear back in time for publication.
