Local family impacted by COVID-19 says they are forever changed

CLAY COUNTY, Fla. — Frank Velasquez has been home for a couple of weeks. He was in the hospital 32 days battling COVID-19 and lost about 50 pounds.

“I have a lot of pain in my arm and my shoulder,” Velasquez said.

He’s still on the mend.

“It’s going to be a very long, slow process for him to recover because he’s very weak. He can’t walk like he used to,” said Griselle Velasquez, Frank Velasquez's wife.

She's knows what this virus did to her 44-year-old husband. She’s amazed by the progress he’s made since then.

“God is really great, and he did the miracle,” Griselle Velasquez said.

She said her husband came home from work in late March after finding out two co-workers had tested positive for COVID-19. Griselle said he had symptoms that night and was later taken to St. Vincent’s in Middleburg.

“His oxygen level dropped so they had to intubate him, and he was in the ICU pretty much for like 30 days,” she said.

While Griselle Velasquez said doctors didn’t think he was going to make it, all she could do was pray.

“We did so much praying and praying that I can tell you it’s a miracle,” Griselle Velasquez said.

She said she hopes others won’t give up.

“For anyone that is going through something like that, or any person, pray, tell them not to give up,” Griselle Velasquez said.

She said doctors call her husband “the miracle man.”

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