NEW ORLEANS — It was a day Robert Lara and his family said they thought may never come.
Wednesday, Lara returned to his home in Harvey after an epic, four-month-long battle with COVID-19. It’s a disease that nearly killed him.
“I wasn’t going to give up on my family or myself,” Lara said. “I’m not a quitter — definitely not going to quit on myself.”
Lara spent 85 days on a ventilator at West Jefferson Medical Center and more than a month in a medically induced coma.
“Some people just catch a cold and it’s over with,” Lara said. “Some people — it’s out to get them. I was one of them. It was out to get me.”
The disease did major damage to the 57-year-old.
He needs a lung transplant and is now learning to walk again.
Lara’s wife, Birdy, said despite the challenges Lara had to overcome, she always believed he would come home, and he did.
“It’s great,” Birdy Lara said. “It’s kind of unbelievable just because he almost died so many times.”
Taylor Lara called his father an inspiration.
“He got knocked down to what I believe is the lowest point anyone could get with catching this virus, but he’s come back,” Taylor Lara said.
The Laras said the most important lesson they learned during their long coronavirus journey was people have to believe and believe in each other.
“Just do what’s in your heart and what’s best for your loved one,” Birdy Lara said. “For me, it was to fight for him.”
“Take care of each other,” Robert Lara said. “It’s a hard road, very hard. Don’t give up on each other.”
Robert had a warning for people who still think the coronavirus is a joke.
“I was one the people that thought it’s just a hoax,” he said. “'The media is making it bigger than what it is.' No, it’s dangerous. I’m lucky to still have one lung because it took my other lung like it was nothing.”
Birdy Lara said she set up a Go Fund Me page to help pay some of the cost of Robert’s medical bills and months of therapy ahead.
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