Parade greets principal who beat COVID-19
Grateful leader says hospital staff ‘just wouldn’t give up’
A mask hid a big smile from Lake Creek High School Principal Phil Eaton as he rolled out of Memorial Hermann The Woodlands Medical Center to a parade of cars wearing a shirt with one word, “freedom.”
Surrounded by more than a dozen nurses and doctors, Eaton on Tuesday found the strength to stand from his wheelchair and point his cane at a line of more than 70 cars with colorful posters filled with love and messages for the “#1 Principal” that “has kicked COVID” after 51 days in the hospital, including 21 on a ventilator.
“I love everybody, thank y’all so much for your support, prayers and concerns, and taking care of my daughter,” Eaton said sitting down again shortly after the sirens, horns and cheers stopped. “And this place, I could say it over and over, I wouldn’t be here right now without their support and help and skill.”
“They just wouldn’t give up,” Eaton said.
Counting the days
From the start of the school year, Eaton tweeted out “#bestyearever.”
In August, the bell rang, and Eaton’s voice came over the intercom to welcome Montgomery Independent School District’s second high school’s 1,300 students. Among them were 220 students of the first LCHS senior class.
The positive message continued not only on campus, but daily on social media, including through his @PhilTweaton Twitter page — until March 14.
Eaton’s last contact with the school community was reportedly at a regional basketball game on March 6 be
fore he began to feel like he was developing a sinus infection. By March 16, shortly after Montgomery ISD closed early for spring break, Eaton was hospitalized with pneumonia. He later tested positive for COVID-19, one of the medical center’s first cases in Montgomery County.
‘Miracles do happen’
“A person can make it,” Eaton said on Tuesday. “I know early on they said unless you are really, really sick, don’t go to the ER. I don’t believe that. If you start experiencing symptoms that are attached to COVID, my deal is go.
They tell me I had a little pneumonia in one lung and how fast both lungs filled up. This stuff is really dangerous.”
“Get to the ER if you are not tasting food right,” he said. “If your smell is bad, if your temperature is up a little bit. That’s enough. Go.”
The community rallied with faith and positivity, visiting the principal’s CaringBridge webpage over 50,000 times with hundreds of interactions and words of kindness. At one point, he was included in a TikTok social media video with a stuffed lion being thrown into his room — which he recalled catching by the tail.
“Even when I was out and under, just their support prayers, thoughts and concerns, rallying
around me — shoot, I didn’t expect this today,” he said. “I’m very humbled.”
On Day 51, including 21 days on the ventilator, LCHS’s senior class salutatorian Abby Kelly, 17, who normally makes the morning announcement with Eaton, pulled through what seemed like an endless line of cars.
She leaned out of her ride’s sunroof, pointed a confetti gun and popped a small, colorful cloud of celebration at her principal to cheers and laughter for his release.
“It means that miracles do happen and the fact that God is good and there is hope for everyone,” said Kelly, who now plans to study business at the University of Houston. “We have united as
a school, in my opinion, and we have come together, and I think community is really evident today.
“There is just joy that is shining through all these hard times and that good can come out of this,” she added.
Rehabilitation continues
Following the parade, Eaton, who will continue rehabilitation in the next week, appeared to be back to his usual spirits, cracking jokes. He looks forward to taking a shower, after taking his “last handheld shower” earlier in the morning and planned to enjoy some tacos.
Then Eaton’s jokes stopped. His face changed. And he struggled with emotion and gratitude.
Dr. Daniel Kievlan, who serves as the co-medical director of the intensive care unit, knelt beside him.
“I will forever be grateful to you guys,” said Eaton.
“It’s what we come to work for every day,” Kievlan said.
“What a great day it really is. I’m excited, I feel great and that’s because of these guys,” Eaton said a few minutes earlier. “The first day I got in here, I could stand for maybe 10 seconds because of being in that state that I was in for 20 days. I can stand. I can walk. They don’t think so, but I can dance a little bit. I can run, but they won’t let me do that here.”