ELMHURST, Ill. (WBBM NEWSRADIO) -- There was a celebration Tuesday at Elmhurst Hospital, as a 30-year-old Addison man left the hospital after being treated for COVID-19 for 44 days.
After more than six weeks in the hospital, 30-year-old Jonathan Davila was released and reunited with his wife and children Tuesday afternoon. Doctors, nurses and other front-line health care workers lined the halls and entry way of Elmhurst Hospital, cheering, clapping and waving signs to celebrate his discharge.
Davila was sporting a Chicago Cubs face masks, and finally saw his 15-year-old son, Danny, 5-year old son, Mason, and 6-month-old son, Elijah, for the first time since late March.
On March 23, Davila was admitted to Elmhurst Hospital. He was one of the hospital's first COVID-19 patients. Elmhurst Hospital said he was intubated for more than 20 days, and at one point, was put on dialysis.
Davila said his symptoms started with a cough, eight days before being admitted to the hospital. His doctor, Dr. Phillip Cozzi, said it is unusual to have someone as young as Davila get so sick, but to come out of it so well.
"It is distinctly unusual in my experience to have somebody so young, so profoundly sick and to emerge so well," said Dr. Phillip Cozzi, a pulmonary disease specialist at Elmhurst, at a news conference.
Davila no longer needs oxygen or dialysis. He was wheeled out of Elmhurst Hospital on a gurney on Tuesday, and an ambulance took to Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton, where he will undergo therapy to recover his strength for an undetermined period of time.
His wife Ashley said she is just glad her husband is alive.
"I'm very grateful for the doctors and all the nurses because without them, he wouldn't be here," Davila's wife said. "So I'm just very happy he's alive."
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Davila's 44-day hospital stay was about four times longer than the median stay for people hospitalized for the virus. Elmhurst Hospital said it was among the longest stays the hospital has recorded among its more than 200 COVID-19 patients.