BOSTON — There was a round of applause from dozens of nurses and doctors at Brigham and Women’s Hospital Tuesday after one of their patients, Scott Efron, recovered from COVID-19.
“I don’t know why [the applause is] for me, it should have been for these beautiful people,” said Efron, about the healthcare workers who helped him recover.
Efron says he’s thankful not only for the health care he received, but also for the trial drug remdesivir.
“I was ready to die, that’s how bad COVID-19 was, and this thing saved my life,” said Efron. “And now I’m going to fight again and I’m going to live again.”
His fight continues - since Efron was just diagnosed with glioblastoma only a month ago.
He had just undergone brain surgery to remove the tumor when he caught COVID-19 at the rehabilitation center in Braintree.
“After my brain surgery, they put me in rehab and it was an epidemic,” said Efron.
[ Trial drug brings hope and is the first tool to fighting COVID-19, local doctor says ]
So Efron moved in with his daughter and son-in-law in Sharon, who helped him get the clinical drug as he battled COVID-19 for a week in the hospital.
“It helped him immensely when he first came in, he could barely breathe, he was on a high level of oxygen,” said Amanda Rosen, Efron’s daughter. “And by the last day of leaving, he actually did not need oxygen anymore after being on the 5 days of the clinical study.”
Rosen says it’s been a difficult month to say the least after learning about her father’s brain cancer, but the moment she saw her dad leave the hospital Tuesday was a huge step forward.
“I think it’s so amazing that these healthcare workers are applauding for patients, when we should really be applauding for them because of everything they risk,” said Rosen.
Now after surviving COVID-19, Efron says he’s ready to get back to fighting his cancer – with chemotherapy and radiation next week.
“I’m feeling amazing and I’m ready to live!” said Efron.
[ What is remdesivir and why is Dr. Fauci excited about it? ]
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