COVID’s miracle survivor
Man made a moving promise
FIGHTING for his life in intensive care as coronavirus ravaged his body, Richard Misior told his beloved wife Helen: “I will do everything I can to come back to you.” And he did. Yesterday after 77 days in Gold Coast University Hospital’s intensive care unit due to COVID-19-related pneumonia, he was transitioned to another ward.
“Some people call me the miracle man, but the real miracle workers are the nurses and doctors of this unit,” Mr Misior said.
ICU doctor Matthew Ostwald said the elderly Gold Coaster was “very unwell when he first came to us and he was on a ventilator for a very long time”.
“He also had other infections on top of COVID-19, which is not uncommon for patients in ICU,” Dr Ostwald said.
He said Mr Misior was quite weak and required a lot of allied health and physiotherapy input.
“We were initially very concerned about his prognosis but he has done extremely well. It’s a real credit to him, he was always very enthusiastic and engaged in his own care and rehabilitation,” he said.
“Seventy-seven days is a long time in intensive care and it’s great to see him doing so well.”
Staff and a few family members held a morning tea to celebrate and Mr Misior said he was grateful for the support he had received.
Mrs Misior was at the celebration of her husband’s recovery and reflected on the early days of her husband’s long period in the ICU.
“He said to me, ‘I will do everything I can to come back to you’,” she said.
“It’s been a long road. His outlook is just part of his personality and he really wanted to come back to me.”
ICU nurse Kate Elliotte, who has been on the team looking after Mr Misior since day one, said he was where he was today because of a positive attitude.
“He has been the one who has kept all of the nurses positive. He has just been amazing to care for,” she said.
There are now no COVID-19 patients currently in ICU care in Queensland and out of the state’s four active cases, three are on the Gold Coast.
No new cases were reported yesterday with 3995 people tested across the state.