HARVEY, La. — On this Labor Day, there were no backyard barbeques or weekend getaways for Birdy Lara and her family.
She spent the day at West Jefferson Medical Center visiting her husband Robert.
“He’s fighting hard,” Lara said. “Still fighting strong every day.”
The 57-year-old Harvey man was admitted to the hospital four months ago for COVID-19 complications including a high fever .
He spent 85 days on a ventilator and about four weeks in a medically induced coma battling the disease.
His wife is a respiratory therapist who treated COVID patients before her husband got sick.
“No one knows why it chose him and to do havoc,” Birdy Lara said. “His left lung is basically destroyed. He will need a lung transplant.”
Robert Lara is now awake and learning how to walk, eat and use his hands again.
WWL-TV had a brief FaceTime conversation with him about the virus that nearly killed him.
“COVID really wanted to take me away,” Robert Lara said. “I’m going to be okay. I know I am because I’m not going to give up. I can’t give up on myself.”
He had a warning for people who still don’t take the coronavirus seriously.
“COVID is not something to play around with or take it as a joke,” Lara said. “It will hurt you in many ways. Take care of yourself because it will kill you.”
Lara is now expected to leave WJMC on Wednesday in an ambulance. He says the most important thing is that he’s going home where he now faces a long road to recovery.
“I am scared,” Robert Lara said. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m terrified. But I got to live. I’ve got a lot of dreams that I want to fulfill.
“He’s stronger today than yesterday,” Birdy Lara said. “That’s one of our mottos. Every day, you’re stronger today than you were yesterday.”
Robert Lara was a machinist before COVID.
He was healthy but had high blood pressure that was under control with medication.
His family hopes people will see what the disease did to their loved one and do everything they can to prevent the spread of the Coronavirus.
More Stories:
► Get breaking news from your neighborhood delivered directly to you by downloading the new FREE WWL-TV News app now in the IOS App Store or Google Play.
