Valley Streamer survives 29-day battle with coronavirus

Robert Sidberry, 55, of Valley Stream, said it felt like he was drowning.

“I was gasping and fighting for air,” he said, recalling the day he was admitted to Mercy Medical Center in Rockville Centre with pneumonia caused by Covid-19, the disease brought on by the coronavirus. “I was cold, throwing up over and over again . . . I had a fever, and my lungs felt like something was weighing them down.”

It was March 16, and after doctors administered a test, he was soon confirmed as a positive Covid-19 case. 

Two days later, Sidberry stopped breathing on his own. 

Staff inserted a plastic tube in his throat, a procedure called intubation, and hooked him up to a mechanical ventilator, which breathed for him. As medical knowledge of the coronavirus expands, one constant has remained: Patients who are intubated are most likely to die of the disease.

Two weeks later, however, Siberry started to breathe on his own again. 

After 29 days in the hospital, he was discharged on April 15, becoming the first intubated Covid-19 patient to leave the hospital alive. He is now home, working to gain back the 25 pounds that he lost while sick, and said he is getting stronger every day.

“My family, and all the prayers that came my way, is what motivated me while I was in the hospital,” he said. “As a Baptist Christian, I believe it is important to keep positive, keep believing and to pray.”

While hospitalized, Sidberry had no visitors because of the risk that they, too, would be infected. His wife, Kenneeda Taylor-Sidberry, 55, sent him cards and called with words of encouragement. “It was a very scary time when he was sick, because this virus is unknown to everyone, but I would definitely declare this a miracle,” Taylor-Sidberry said. “I prayed a lot during the time he was sick, as I normally do, but prayer was different this time.”

She no longer had her husband, whom she described as a “prankster, confidant and best friend,” next to her.

Taylor-Sidberry said she believed the worst was over, but her husband still struggles to breathe, and the couple worry about the unknown challenges that the virus might pose.

“I’m definitely still scared,” Sidberry said. “I’m conscious of what’s going on, and I’m staying updated by reading to make sure I don’t get another strain.”

“Just a sniff could get you infected again, and that’s a scary thought,” Taylor-Sidberry said. “I view life as more valuable now because my husband almost lost his.” 

Christine Schaefer, the nurse manager at Mercy Medical Center, who oversaw Sidberry’s case, said his was special, leaving her and many of her co-workers shocked — and encouraged.

The coronavirus is unpredictable, Schaefer said, with each case presenting its own problems, but her experience with Sidberry defied all odds.

“Nobody thought he would make it, and 29 days later he was leaving and on the road to recovery, which is amazing,” she said. “There are many extremely tough days working, and although survival moments like this don’t cancel out the bad, they encourage you to keep fighting because it’s a fight and a battle.”