Middlesex United Way: Thousands across the state have been helped by COVID fund.

NEW CANAAN — The last thing Henry Woerz remembers about the height of his battle with COVID-19 is arriving at Stamford Hospital.

“I have no memory from the day I walked in,” Woerz said in a phone interview this week during a break in his daily rehab routine. “The only thing I remember is walking into the emergency room.”

After more than three weeks on a ventilator, the New Canaan resident showed signs of recovery after receiving what he considered to be life-saving plasma treatment. He’s now rehabbing at Stamford Hospital’s Van Munching Center.

“That treatment saved my life,” Woerz, 76, said of the transfusion of plasma donated by Matt Fry, who was the first Norwalk resident to test positive for the coronavirus. After his own recovery and testing negative, Fry donated his blood through Stamford Hospital’s plasma treatment program. “I’m much better,” Woerz said. His sons — Craig, 48, Jeffrey, 45, and Jason, 42 — sought solutions as they fielded updates from the hospital, including a call asking if they wanted a chance to say goodbye.

Instead, they held out hope and worked with Stamford Hospital’s Dr. Remi Rosenberg to find potential plasma donors — people who had tested positive for COVID-19, then displayed no symptoms for 14 days, and then tested negative for the disease.

Fry fit that description, donated blood, and the transfusions gave Woerz’s body the ammunition it needed to fight to virus.

With the help of Stamford Hospital staff, Woerz watched his story on “CBS This Morning” on April 20.

“It’s amazing,” Craig said. “I’m still beside myself that this is where we’re at.”

“Mentally, he’s 100 percent back,” Jason Woerz said.

Now out of the main hospital, Henry Woerz starts each day with speech therapy, followed by occupational and physical therapy.

“Everything,” he replied when ask what is being worked on, “upper body, lower body, speech therapy.”

Woerz said his oxygen level and lung function are both good, but rehabilitation is an arduous process.

“I’m doing better every day, but it’s been a tough road every day,” he said of his three hours of daily therapy.

“The rest is just sitting here,” Woerz quipped. “I’ve got my iPad, thank God.”

The retired electrical engineer and designer said he kept busy before falling ill.

“I was a very active person — a lot of walking,” he said. “Anything you needed done, I did it. I’m a very handy person.”

“He was a very independent person,” Craig Woerz said. “Getting back that mental confidence in his physical state is a drive for him.”

With an eye toward going home, Henry Woerz said he looks forward to “being with my family, and having some good food.” He specified steak.

He plans to eventually meet Fry, whose blood turned the tide for Woerz.

“When I get out of here,” Woerz said, “he wants to meet me.”

Fry checks in with Craig Woerz almost every day. David Hickey, a 1989 New Canaan High grad, had originally connected Fry with Woerz when he saw the family’s social media plea for a plasma donor.

The elder Woerz has yet to meet any other COVID survivors during his rehabilitation, but he had advice.

“You’ve got to keep moving on and be thankful that you made it through,” Henry Woerz said. “If you get a new lease on life, you’ve got to make the most of it.”