Woman still recovering after battling Covid-19 for months

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    SAGINAW, Michigan (WNEM) — A Saginaw woman is warning others about the seriousness of COVID-19 after spending months in the hospital battling the virus.

“Being home in my own environment is really nice,” said Rachel Lijewski said.

Lijewski survived COVID-19. A year ago, the healthy then-28-year-old thought if she contracted COVID19 it would be no worse than a cold.

“I never in a million years thought that I would get it so bad,” she said.

She contracted the virus in October. And was hospitalized at Covenant Healthcare for 70 days. She ended up on a ventilator as her oxygen numbers continued to drop.

“They said, ‘We’re trying our best, but your levels just won’t go any higher,’” Lijewski said.

She knew she was in trouble. At one point she even thought her life was over.

“I remember kind of being awake and looking around the room a little bit and I think just deep down I knew something was wrong. And I thought to myself ‘This was it like I’m not going to make it,’” she said.

But Lijewski fought on and on December 30 the Saginaw resident was released from the hospital.

“It was a beautiful moment,” she said. “I was crying and my baby was happy, my husband was happy, my other daughter was happy. It was a beautiful reunion.”

Lijewski spent two weeks rehabbing at Mary Free Bed at Covenant. Now she is receiving outpatient therapy. All in an effort to build up her strength and endurance to return to work. That’s where Lijewski says she didn’t always follow COVID-19 safety protocols. She doesn’t want other people to end up like her or worse.

“Because of my own choices of not being safe I almost died. And people need to realize that,” she said.

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