Arizona Rep. Lorenzo Sierra makes ‘miraculous’ recovery from COVID-19
Oct 23, 2020, 4:25 AM | Updated: 7:30 am
(Facebook Photo/ Representative Lorenzo Sierra)
(Facebook Photo/ Representative Lorenzo Sierra)
PHOENIX – Doctors at Johns Hopkins told Arizona State Rep. Lorenzo Sierra that his recovery after battling coronavirus earlier this month is nothing short of a miracle.
“What the doctors are telling me, over at Johns Hopkins, is I’ve made what they’re calling a miraculous recovery,” Sierra told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Gaydos & Chad on Thursday.
“For the people who have been as sick as I was, they’ve not seen them rebound as quickly as I have and I don’t know what to attribute that to other than I had something to live for, I have a fantastic family and I have a great community that I have the privilege of serving.”
Sierra, who represents Legislative District 19 in the West Valley, and his wife, Rhonda Cagle, were visiting their daughter in D.C., when they both contracted the virus despite taking safety measures like taking COVID-19 tests before traveling, wearing N95 masks and consistently using hand sanitizer.
After visiting with their daughter for a few days, Sierra, Cagle, their daughter and her boyfriend all started to experience COVID-like symptoms. His wife visited the emergency room and stayed for about 10 hours before heading home.
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About a week later, Sierra’s oxygen levels started to drop into 80’s, which led him to seek treatment at the emergency room.
Following his arrival, Sierra was placed on a ventilator after a few hours. He said after he was in the hospital, his wife had to fill him in on what had happened afterwards.
“They woke me up and I thought I had just been there for a few minutes,” Sierra said. “Turns out, I was under for four days, they had put me into a prone position, which gives the lungs the ability to breathe a little bit better.”
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He said one of the hardest things about the situation was not being able to have his family by his side.
“I remember coming through and just wondering what I’d put my family through,” Sierra said. “Obviously when you’re dealing with COVID – and this is across the board for everyone– it’s not like you wake up and your family is there and everyone’s relieved. They physically couldn’t come into my room, they physically couldn’t go to the hospital when they were there and all I remember until I actually talked to my wife was, ‘Oh my gosh, what did I put my wife through?’”
