Faces of COVID-19: Rogelio Avila set to return home after six-month battle with double lung transplant caused by COVID

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) – With the highly contagious Delta variant spreading in our area, hospital officials say they continue to see more patients, but one family is on a mission to encourage others to to get vaccinated.

After six months and a long battle with COVID-19, Rogelio Avila is about to return home.

His wife said it all started in February. The Avila family were among many Houstonians huddled inside after losing power in the February storm.

It was then that Sandra Avila said she started to feel sick.

“I told my husband ‘something is wrong’ because my chest hurts,” said Sandra.

Unfortunately, things have not improved.

Sandra, her husband and their three children have all contracted COVID-19. She and her husband had to go to the hospital for their symptoms.

A week later, she was returning home. But Rogelio remained in the hospital.

“Her condition kept getting worse,” Sandra said.

As Rogelio fought for his life, the couple’s then two-year-old son also ended up in hospital. Sandra said he suffered from multisystem inflammatory syndrome, something he had after having COVID-19.

With her husband and son in the hospital, Sandra said it was almost too much to take.

“Like, oh my God. Am I going to lose my son? Am I going to lose my husband?” she said.

Her son has improved, but Sandra remembers dark days.

Like the day hospital staff told her to prepare for what could be the last days of her husband’s life.

“If he doesn’t progress in the next 48 hours, you will have to start bringing your family in so that we can move forward and say his final farewells,” Sandra said, re-enacting her conversation with her doctor.

Sandra said she and her family prayed and prayed. Then things started to change and Rogelio started to improve.

His lungs were badly affected by the virus, but as he improved he became a good candidate for a double lung transplant.

Rogelio received the transplant several weeks ago. His wife said he was fine and would be home soon.

Sandra said her family were grateful and appreciated every moment she shared more.

Although she is happy that her husband is coming home, it will still take months for her to heal. Her immune system will need to regain strength, and that’s something Sandra is concerned about.

While she is vaccinated, her children are not yet old enough to receive the vaccine, and neither are their peers.

“My main concern is that they go to school and come back and bring something that will affect or harm [their] daddy, ”Sandra said.

It’s been six months since Rogelio went to the hospital, and now Sandra has said that she just doesn’t want another family to suffer the same fate, which is why she encourages people to get vaccinated.

“Why would anyone want that to happen to them when they could have prevented it, you know? I just think the vaccine is a form of protection,” she said.

Sandra hopes her family history will encourage others to get vaccinated.

Meanwhile, health officials say the Delta variant could get more people to receive their first dose. Houston Methodist said it has seen more people get vaccinated.

A few weeks ago, they were giving around 400 first doses per day. The following week that number rose to 600 and last Monday they hit over 1,000 first doses per day.

This is the first time they have seen such figures since the beginning of June.

“We have started to see trends of increasing first-dose vaccinations over the past few weeks, which has been encouraging. It’s still early, these are very early signs. But we like what we’re seeing.” , said Tesha Montgomery of the Houston Methodist. Organization of physicians.

For more on COVID-19 vaccine updates, follow Marla Carter on Facebook,Twitter and Instagram.