CHARLOTTE, N.C. — A Charlotte-area nurse is heading home after spending four weeks in the hospital battling COVID-19.
Alyssa Lobosco was diagnosed after working in the medical frontlines at CaroMont Regional Medical Center in Gastonia.
At one point during her hospitalization, she had to be intubated to help her breathing.
"As she was FaceTiming us, she said to my wife, 'I'm going to die. I'm dying,'" Lobosco's father recalled. "That's the only thing that stayed in my head, my wife's head. It was terrible."
Lobosco left Atrium Health’s Carolinas Medical Center Monday morning to applause and cheers from hospital staff.
Growing up in a family of first responders, Lobosco's parents said she understood the risk of being on the frontlines, but she was ready to help.
Lobosco will be recovering at her family’s New Jersey home.
Dozens of doctors, nurses and staffers cheered Lobosco Monday morning as she left the hospital.
"It's surreal," Lobosco said. "My symptoms started a month ago, and now I'm leaving here. It's great."
She was sedated much of the time so she doesn't remember much from her stay, including her birthday.
"The nurses, they told me they had made signs for me. They decorated my room," she said. "I know there were balloons because I woke up and saw the balloons. I just figured somebody had dropped them off."
She remembered the last FaceTime conversation she had with her family before she got intubated.
"It was scary," she said. "I couldn't stop crying, but I couldn't breathe."
But she'll cherish the moment she hugged her parents for the first time in weeks.
"I've been crying every day seeing all the support I've been getting," she said. "It's great to finally see everybody."
A family friend created a GoFundMe to help pay Lobosco's bills, and it's collected more than $53,000 in less than three weeks. It can be found here.
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