West Tennessean recovers from COVID-19

JACKSON, Tenn. — Todd Lewis, one of the first patients diagnosed with COVID-19 in rural West Tennessee, is out of the hospital.

“I just want people to know how real this. I’m a germaphobe and this happened to me,” Lewis said.

Lewis was one of the first people in West Tennessee diagnosed with COVID-19. It started as just a fever for about a week.

“Progressively, it got worse to the point where I went into my doctor, and I had pneumonia and they immediately swabbed me, sent me on to the ER and they admitted me,” he said.

That was March 20. Lewis says that’s when things started going downhill fast. He was in the ICU for a week and was intubated.

“I was paralyzed, prone position, belly, moved over to my back, put on a ventilator, so I believe they said I was on a ventilator for a total of seven days,” Lewis said.

Slowly, he started recovering and eventually got to FaceTime with his family again.

Then on Thursday he was released from the hospital!

“I can’t thank enough, the people at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital. I’ll never be able to thank those doctors and nurses and stuff for as much as they did for me,” Lewis said.

But he says everyone still needs to take this seriously.

“Follow what they’re saying. You see people that are still out and doing things. Stay home. Stay home,” Lewis said.

While in the hospital, Lewis said he was overwhelmed by the amount of support he received from his students at Chester County Junior High School.