Thread by @DavidBegnaud

🪡 Here’s the face of a victorious fighter who’s got more fights in him. When we read that Alejandro Castro spent 299 days in an Oregon hospital battling Covid 19, & then the complications from it, we wanted to know more.

Today, we spent the day with him & his family at their home, 45 minutes outside of Portland. What we didn’t know was the degree to which he fought in the hospital and how that part of the story makes his recovery amazing & inspiring.

1 of his nurses, Levi Cole: “Alex had the heart of a lion. He fought like an animal & he made it out of here against every possible odd…it’s impossible for me to sort of quantify the level of pain & the amount of suffering his family & he went through for him to make it out…”

“In my ECMO career, 108 days is unheard of & for him to leave the hospital was very, very touch and go for a very long time. And after we got him off the ECMO. The day they took him off ECMO…I crawled in bed with him. I gave him a big hug and we were both laughing…”

“…I had tears in my eyes from pure joy. Having had to watch him suffer for many and many months here before he got to go home was very difficult. He was incredibly demoralized & I think he wanted to throw the towel in many many times. And Amanda (his wife) wouldn’t let him…”

“…And his kids wouldn’t let him. And his son (oldest son) would come in here and play bad cop, worse cop with me & everybody else. We all dragged him across the finish line but he did it himself.”

Alex spent 108 days on ECMO! I’ve covered Covid stories for the last year and a half. I had no idea you could be awake while on ECMO and even walk down a hall. Alex did both, and we have the videos to show you.

This story is one of amazement but it’s sobering to see what’s ahead for Alex. He’s just 44 years old.

Our story airs Friday on @cbsmornings.

From this

To this

A man who seemingly had his world in his hand is now building a new life, one step at a time, with what’s left of the body God gave him.