A Chula Vista grandmother is still recovering from COVID-19 after being hospitalized for 50 days.
Matilde Barrios Perez, 62, said at least six people in her extended family were also infected with COVID-19, sperate from her diagnosis, but, unfortunately, some were not able to recover from the virus and died. Now Perez is warning people about the dangers of the virus.
NBC 7 first spoke with Perez’s family in August, when she was still in the hospital. On Monday, Perez said she was regaining the strength in her legs to walk comfortably again, after having been in a coma nearly three weeks. She said her grandchildren were her motivation to fight the virus.
“My grandchildren are the most beautiful babies in the world,” Perez said.
Perez has three grandchildren, all under the age of 10.
“I used to say, 'If I live up to 60, I’m fine, I can go no problem, but now that I have them -- no, I don’t want to go,” Perez said on Monday.
At one point during Perez's fight against COVID-19, she said she feared she wouldn’t make it. She tested positive for the virus in July. She was admitted and transferred to the ICU on July 18 after developing flu-like symptoms, including fever and extreme fatigue.
“The last thing I remember was when they said they were going to do the intubation," Perez said. "[The medical personnel] said that could be it for me. I might survive, but there was a big chance I wasn’t going to make it."
Perez remembers that she started thinking of her family back at home.
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“At one point, I asked the doctor, ‘Can you let me go home just to say goodbye [to my family] and I’ll come back,’ " Perez said, laughing. "And he said, 'No -- no way.' ”
Almost three weeks later, Perez said, she woke up from a coma.
“I was surprised that I was here and very grateful,” Perez said. “I was lucky to survive and get back to normal. But not a lot of people make it … my brother-in-law died on his way to the hospital.”
Perez said her sister-in-law died from COVID-19 complications on Monday morning.
“So many people die," Perez said. "So many people are still suffering from it, so please, please, take it seriously and protect yourself.”
