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Dublin pastor relearning how to walk after 100-day COVID-19 hospitalization

Wes Moye fought double pneumonia, blood poisoning, heart failure and paralysis. Now, he's back home with his family and learning how to walk again.

DUBLIN, Ga. — A Dublin pastor is back home after being hospitalized for more than 100 days with COVID-19.

61-year-old Wes Moye tested positive for COVID-19 back in September.

"I started off with just basic flu-like symptoms. I thought, 'Well, this is not that bad and maybe the media has overblown it,'" says Moye, but on September 20th, he checked into Fairview Park Hospital.

"They wouldn't even let me go back there with him at the emergency room. I remember crying in the emergency room as he walked away from me because I felt so helpless," says his wife, Jan.

Wes says a few days later, he took a turn for the worse.

His oxygen levels were dropping and his doctor discovered he had double pneumonia, so Wes was hooked up to a ventilator.

10 days later, he was transferred to Emory Hospital in Atlanta. 

"Just getting into Emory hospital at this point in time was miraculous because I have been told by several people that they were no longer taking any other patients. There were no openings," he says. "My wife got a call from a physician at Emory and he said, "Well, we have a bed available and your husband's name is on it."

The medical team ran tests and performed a tracheotomy to preserve his vocal cords after being on the ventilator for so long.

They thought they may have to put in a voice box and feared brain damage.

"At some point, I was coughing up blood."

The medical team at Emory realized he had blood poisoning, caused by the body's response to the infection.

They began preparing his wife for the worst.

"I had heart failure where my blood pressure bottomed out and that's when they called my wife and said they didn't think I was going to make it," says Wes.

Jan says she refused to believe her husband wasn't coming home.

"I just knew God was going to bring Wes through this. I would not allow myself to be negative to think what if he doesn't get through this? All the time I was just holding on tight to Jesus and just knowing he was going to bring us through it."

Sure enough, after 38 days on the ventilator, Wes turned a corner.

He'd been unconscious for most of that time, but finally woke up.

When he did, he realized something was wrong. He couldn't feel most of his body. 

"I realized I was paralyzed from the neck down," says Wes. "As you can imagine, that did a real number on my mind."

Wes has since gotten mobility back in his arms and hands, but he is still relearning how to walk.

"Did I shed some tears along the way? Yes. Yes, I've cried a few times because it is an emotional thing," he says. "With the therapy and so much encouragement across the days, I've seen great progress and will continue to fight this thing until we get back to where we need to be. I know that God will see me through it."

After over 100 days in the hospital, Wes was welcomed home by his Pine Forest United Methodist Church congregation with a parade.

Credit: Jan Moye

But even when he could not see them, they were posting updates and prayers on Facebook every day.

Jan and Wes both say they know that love and support is what got them through it.

"I want to say how overwhelmingly blessed I was by so many members of our church," he says. "They also gathered outside of the emergency room to welcome me back to Dublin."

Wes says he will get the vaccine as soon as he is allowed to and encourages everyone to take the virus seriously and trust the science.

"This stuff is nothing to play around with. I was a skeptic and I admit that. I thought it was blown out of proportion. I was in the camp with folks who said, "Oh, it's not as bad as the flu."

After his experience, he knows the virus is very real and he thanks God he is alive to see his wife, children and grandson again.

"We're not guaranteed tomorrow. We need to tell those loved ones how much we love them and to love our friends and neighbors and even our enemies."

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