ORLANDO, Fla. – While Florida continues with phase two of reopening, 32-year-old Drew Harris is still trying to recover from COVID-19 that his family says he contracted at the end of March.
Christina Drolet is a close friend of Harris.
Recommended Videos
“It’s been hard,” she said. “He’s like a brother. Drew is funny. He’s charismatic. He’s always cared for his friends and everyone around him before himself."
Drolet told News 6 Harris was a groomsman at her wedding and has been best friend with her husband for years.
"It's heartbreaking. I think a lot of it has to do with I don't think people fully understand what the virus is capable of.”
Drolet said Harris has been hospitalized at AdventHealth Orlando for the past 10 weeks.
“During his fight against COVID-19, Drew has faced several challenges-ARDS, hypoxemia, his left lung filled with blood and has collapsed twice, multi-organ failure, pneumonia(reoccurring), acute kidney damage, two staph infections, sepsis (fungal blood infection) a bleeding stomach ulcer, a blood clot and more,” his family wrote on a GoFundMe Page.
“That’s what the doctors told his mother: that he was not only the sickest patient in their hospital but in their region, which is terrifying,” Drolet added. “Right now, they’re trying to get him to be able to do 48 hours off the ventilator, fever free before he can be released to go to rehab.”
Drolet said Harris recently moved out of the coronavirus unit, but remains in the intensive care unit at AdventHealth, relearning how to walk, how to talk and other use other motor skills.
“He’s not in the category of elderly,” Drolet said. “To have someone who is 32 and relatively healthy to go this extreme of almost losing his life. Everybody needs to do their part in keeping everybody safe. Its not just about you, it’s about everybody around you.”
If you’d like to help out with Harris’ long road ahead, you can donate by clicking here.