Nicholasville man who spent a week on a ventilator is home recovering from coronavirus
A Nicholasville man who spent seven days on a ventilator is back home and recovering from COVID-19.
Ralph Mazza, 73, was diagnosed with coronavirus on March 25. On March 30, his fever spiked, and he took a turn for the worse that led his wife to bring him to the emergency room at Baptist Health Lexington, the hospital said in a news release Saturday.
“The symptoms were really quite dramatic,” Mazza said in the news release. “There were a lot of night shakes. I was shaking so much that I would sweat and shake at the same time. I had no idea what anybody was saying around me.”
Because of visitor restrictions intended to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, Mazza’s wife of 45 years, Cindy Mazza, was not able to be with him in the hospital, but she received daily calls from staff updating her on his condition.
Mazza, who previously worked at Lexington Family Magazine, spent two weeks in the hospital before being released last Monday.
Now at home in Jessamine County, Mazza said in the news release that he hopes people will continue to follow social distancing guidelines.
“The most important thing I think is that social distancing needs to be done. I think that’s so apparent,” he said. “I think that’s one of the reasons why Cindy hasn’t shown any symptoms and neither has her mother who lives with us.”
Cindy Mazza wrote in a thank-you letter to the hospital that her husband is “weak but gaining strength every day,” the news release stated.
“We know God was in this from the beginning and put you and the whole team in our lives to bring him back to me,” Cindy Mazza wrote. “We are so grateful. You all will forever be in our prayers.”
This story was originally published April 18, 2020 at 6:59 PM.
