A Raytown, Missouri, mother and grandmother said that COVID-19 nearly killed her three times. She said she was unvaccinated and barely survived.Dakeela Washington's purse is full of pills — evidence of the burden she now carries."I went from taking one to two medications to taking 14 medications now," said Washington, who survived COVID-19. "I'm sitting here because God saved my life."Washington was unvaccinated when she contracted the virus this summer."I was in the hospital from this day to this day," she said.That day was July 6."(I) drove myself to the hospital and collapsed in the parking lot because I couldn't breathe. When I got there, my oxygen was 60," Washington said.It was the last thing she remembered."I didn't know 60 was really low," Washington said.She said she woke up on Aug. 28 and nearly two months had passed."The doctor came in, like, a week later and was, like, 'Ms. Washington, I almost had to sign you off,'" she said.Washington said she had no clue what he meant, but then soon learned."I had a heart attack. I had a stroke. And I died three times. I coded three times," she said.Washington left the hospital in October after learning how to move and talk again."I can't grip anything," she said.Hospital tubes left a mark, too."My speech therapist said that's a survivor's scar," she said.Washington said she was at first hesitant to get the vaccine."'I ain't getting the vaccine. I don't know what they did.' I was one of those and look what happened to me. It changed my life," Washington said. "It changed me."Washington just received her second dose and is giving her own dose of advice."Please get vaccinated," she said.Washington said her whole family was unvaccinated against COVID-19 at the time she got sick. Since then, her family has received the vaccine.

Maureen Woods from Levi County, Florida, says the hospital staff at Orlando Health saved her life after she caught COVID-19. Thanks to Orlando Health-Health Central Hospital, Woods was able to reunite with the people that saved her. Woods came back to Orlando Health-Health Central Hospital in Ocoee for an emotional reunion."Thank you from the bottom of my heart for everything you did for me and my husband while I was here. Words can't express how much I'm grateful,” Woods told the staff.Woods had spent nearly three weeks in a coma fighting to survive at the hospital. “It was amazing to realize exactly how many people had a hand in my recovery,” Woods said. “On one hand it was overwhelming but on the other hand it was gratifying to be able to thank them for everything they did for me and my husband.""There were sometimes that we didn't know if my wife was going to make it and they were telling me to keep positive thoughts and, you know, ‘we've got the best doctors the best people looking after her,’" Wood’s husband Clay Woods said.On July 24, Maureen Woods was admitted to the hospital after intense pain from a kidney stone while visiting Disney World."I ended up septic, my lung collapsed. I had pneumonia. I got COVID. My organs started shutting down. It was apparently dire straits. They had my husband call the family in,” Maureen Woods said.She spent 39 days in the critical care unit and a total of 53 days as a hospital patient."Her oxygen levels were very, very low. She had some critical points where we had some really difficult conversations,” Dr. Joel Santora said.For the rest of her stay, Maureen Woods was transferred to Orlando Health's in-patient rehab unit before she was discharged."It's a testament of the team, passion of the team, Maureen's willpower to live – faith, medicine. It's an awesome combination,” Santora said."With COVID and how many patients they lose on a regular basis, having someone like me come through all of this — come back and thank them and say, 'I'm alive because of you.' I hope they go home tonight feeling good about what they do,” Maureen Woods said.