A Manassas man recovered from COVID-19 and is back at home with his family after a long fight with the disease.
Titou Phommachanh caught the virus while traveling in New York in early March.
“The day that he went into the hospital, I didn’t really see him because we came back from school and he wasn’t there,” said Phommachanh’s daughter.
Phommachanh was in the ICU on a ventilator and in a medically induced coma for 16 days. He was also one of the first patients in the country to be hooked up to an ECMO machine, which pumped oxygen into his blood.
Phommachanh’s wife and children had to prepare for the worst at times when possibilities seemed bleak. His 9-year-old daughter also got the virus, but only a very mild case. She was more worried whether or not she’d be able to see her dad again.
Weeks later, Phommachanh woke up from his coma panicked and exhausted, but alive. He lost 50 pounds while battling the virus.
Coronavirus Cases in DC, Maryland and Virginia
COVID-19 cases by population in D.C. and by county in Maryland and Virginia
Source: DC, MD and VA Health Departments
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He finally returned home on April 2 and is starting to feel like himself again this week.
Phommachanh said he wouldn’t be with his family today if it weren’t for the work of the doctors and nurses at Inova Fairfax. His wife, Amanda, said she still keeps in contact with the doctor who cared for her husband.
“He’s going to be a part of our family,” she said.
