LANSING, MI (WSYM) - — It was a long 90 days battling COVID-19 for 67-year-old Ernie Cabule, but on Friday family, friends and neighbors finally celebrated his recovery.
"I was down 10 strikes in the ninth and then I rallied," said Cabule.
Cabule was admitted March 21 to Sparrow Hospital, to be treated for COVID-19 and pneumonia.
"To finally get out when they said I wasn't going to make it, is just such an immense blessing it's unbelievable," said Cabule.
His wife Janice Cabule, says he had several close calls battling one issue after another.
"He's had five blood transfusions, three clots with all of that. He had a wound that would not heal on his back. He had to have surgery. They did that surgery on him, and then he had a bone infection from that wound. Along with that, they found out he had E.Coli in his blood," said Janice.
Cabule also went into a coma and had to be placed on a ventilator twice.
"They didn't think he would make it. They called and told us we should start praying and we did," said Janice.
Through it all, Cabule says he stayed positive.
"I never got depressed, never got upset about it. Every day was an adventure, so it taught me to keep on pushing and keep on going," said Cabule. "I got things to do, dying ain't one of them."
Straight out of the hospital, Cabule was greeted by several brothers of his fraternity, Alpha Phi Alpha.
His neighbors surprised him when he got home, waving banners, signs, and balloons, and spinners.
His daughters and grandson were there as well.
"It's so so wonderful to have Ernie home, so wonderful," said Jeanne Shelley his neighbor of 25 years who helped rally the neighborhood.
"This has been great," said Cabule. "This is beyond my wildest dreams to see all the appreciation, all the love that people have shown me is just overwhelming. I'm ever so grateful for it."
His doctor at Sparrow Hospital says Cabule's story is nothing short of a miracle.
He did develop diabetes while he was being treated for the virus.
