Illinois man survives COVID after 67 days in the hospital

MT. CARMEL, Ill. (WFIE) - A Mount Carmel man is home after spending 67 days in a hospital bed, five weeks on the ventilator, as well as three weeks in rehabilitation.

Jim Strine received a joyful farewell as he was wheeled out of the hospital and on his way home after an almost three-month battle with COVID-19.

Strine says doctors told his family three different times that he wasn’t going to make it, but he pushed through and now feels like he has a new perspective on life.

“I feel like a totally different person than what I did before this started because of everything I’ve experienced and basically what God has done,” said Strine.

Strine says throughout his journey in the hospital, the people of Mount Carmel rallied around him with support. And for that, Strine says he’s beyond thankful.

“It has just blown me away… the response,” said Strine. “I mean I thought little old me that nobody knew, and just the response. That’s why I said, somehow God has worked all this around to move so many people that it has just blown my mind.”

Strine says he doesn’t remember most of his time in the hospital, as it was spent in a coma. But once he woke up, Strine says he knew he could fight to get back home to his dairy farm.

“Whenever they told me two months or at least four to six weeks, I said no. With God’s help, I said I’m going to be home in three weeks, if not two... And three weeks, I’m home,” said Strine.

Strine says he’s still working to get his lungs built back up, but once he’s made a full recovery, he says he’s excited to go fishing with his family again.

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