Hingham’s Jim Bello spent 32 days on life support before his ‘miracle’ recovery from coronavirus
He was moved to Spaulding Rehab; CBS News said he can already walk with a walker.
Hingham resident Jim Bello is recovering from the coronavirus after spending 32 days on life support, according to multiple reports.
Bello, 49, left the intensive care unit at Mass General Hospital on Wednesday, April 15, and was discharged Friday, April 17. He was moved to Spaulding Rehab; CBS News said he can already walk with a walker.
“He’s realizing that he really is a miracle,” Bello’s wife, Kim, said. “It’s unbelievable that he made it through.”
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At first, Bello was sick with a fever. A doctor at South Shore Medical Center conducted tests and he went home. The next day, Bello woke up suddenly and couldn’t breathe, and he eventually tested positive for COVID-19, according to CBS News.
He transitioned from South Shore’s emergency room to MGH, where he was intubated as the situation worsened.
“Before he went under, he was like, ‘What if I don’t make it?'” Kim recalls. “And I was like, ‘You’re going to make it.'”
Close to two weeks later, Bello’s condition was much worse, and Kim said his doctor told him her husband didn’t have a very good chance of surviving.
“That’s when I lost it,” Kim told CBS News. “I just kept thinking, ‘There’s no way. There’s no way he can leave me with three kids.’ He’s like the best father, best husband, best everything.”
Doctors reportedly considered more drastic treatment measures, and at one point they took Bello off a paralyzing drug to prepare for a procedure. Then Bello remarkably woke up and squeezed a nurse’s hand twice, and he’s made significant strides since.
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