MIAMI-DADE COUNTY, Fla. – Despite the gloomy weather on the first day of October in Miami-Dade County, it’s a bright and beautiful day for a Miami nurse who battled COVID-19 for three months, and, thankfully, survived.
Carlos Olano, a nurse at Jackson Memorial Hospital, tested positive for COVID-19 in early July right before he had planned to get the COVID-19 vaccine.
Olano says he was waiting to get the vaccine because he had been struggling with bronchitis and was never healthy enough to get the shot.
“Why it took me so long... I was having so much bronchitis,” he said. “I was postponing. I was almost ready to be vaccinated when I started feeling sick.”
Unfortunately, his condition quickly deteriorated.
He spent 26 days intubated in the COVID Intensive Care Unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital. Then, he was eventually transferred to the Christine E. Lynn Rehabilitation Center where he received physical therapy to relearn how to walk amongst other things.
“Just to sit up and brush teeth, it’s very difficult at first, but he’s making tremendous progress,” said occupational therapist Jennifer Gomez.
She explained it is very common for people who have been heavily affected by COVID to have to re-learn all of those basic functions.
For nearly three months, due to COVID, Olano had no visitors, and didn’t see his family for nearly three months. He shared some of his darkest moments in with us.
“The battle was pretty tough,” he said. “I never thought I was going to make it.”
However, he says his family’s support is what has gotten him through.
“I think your family is the strongest support in the healing process,” he explained.
And his message to everyone is simple — get vaccinated.
“I’m one of the few that’s going through these doors. You don’t see that often,” he said.
Olano’s wife says they plan to write a book called “Milagro,” which means miracle, because that’s what they say he is — their miracle to be able to go home today.