Coronavirus Patient Released After 146 Days At Greenwich Hospital

GREENWICH, CT — Anchalee Kelakos remembers being asked to come to Greenwich Hospital a few times to say goodbye to her husband, George, as he fought a monthslong hard battle against the coronavirus.

Speaking by phone last week, Kelakos said her husband had spent nearly a week sick in bed at home before they decided to go to the hospital last fall. George ultimately tested positive for the virus and was admitted to the hospital Nov. 11.

The couple had no way of knowing that would be the first day of a nearly five-month stay at the facility, the longest any coronavirus patient has stayed at Greenwich Hospital since the start of the coronavirus crisis. (To sign up for Greenwich breaking news alerts and more, click here.)

"I was not allowed to visit him initially, because they were not allowing visitors," Kelakos said. "I was called [to the hospital] three or four times to say goodbye to him, and I advocated for him and said, 'No, he's going to pull through' — and sure enough, he did."

After a harrowing handful of months, George received a hero's send-off from the Greenwich Hospital staff as he was finally released from their care April 6. At that point, he had been hospitalized for a total of 146 days.

According to the hospital, staff lined the hallway holding balloons and signs that read "we will miss you" as George left his hospital room and boarded an ambulance to a rehabilitation center, where he will continue his recovery.

"It was just incredible," Kelakos said. "Just the outpouring of love and support from everyone. I mean, he was there for so long that they considered him part of the family. It was really like leaving your family after so long. I think the doctors and nurses probably spent more time with George than they did with their own family."

According to Kelakos, it was a remarkable shift from the start of the year when her husband was in an induced coma, which he slowly came out of toward the end of January. Prior to that, he had been intubated on Nov. 22, which lasted about two months.

After coming out of the coma, it was touch-and-go for her husband, Kelakos said, with both good and bad days.

"He was getting like recurring infection, things like that," Kelakos said, "so it was a couple of weeks. There were instances where we thought he could leave [the hospital], and then it turned out that wasn't the case."

As the couple endured this rollercoaster ride, Kelakos said the hardworking staff at the hospital was extremely supportive and helpful. She even baked them batches of oatmeal raisin cookies to show her appreciation.

"Everybody, the doctors and nurses, all the staff are just miracle workers," Kelakos said, "and George was an inspiration to everyone ... we're fortunate to have Greenwich Hospital. They really saved him."

Speaking during a news conference April 7, Greenwich Hospital President Diane Kelly said there are a lot of positive emotions at the hospital whenever someone is able to leave the facility after a long stay.

"It's definitely unique that someone would be in the hospital for 146 days, and every patient is unique," Kelly said, "but it's very encouraging to me because it really means that whatever the symptoms and difficulties this gentleman was [experiencing] ... the medical team was able to manage that and get him strong enough and get him over that. I have to say each time that occurs, we learn more and more of the best ways to care for the patient."

As George continues his recovery, Kelakos said her husband is doing much better since leaving the hospital but that he must learn to walk again due to the effects of being on paralytics while in a coma.

"He's immobile, other than that he's mentally all there and he's mentally intact," Kelakos said. "In fact, at the hospital at one point, they even told me that he may be brain damaged. That was really disturbing, but that's not the case. He's doing very well. He's getting occupational and physical therapy, and hopefully he'll be walking soon."

She also said she is hopeful George will fully recover from this experience soon so he can get back to a very active lifestyle.

According to Kelakos, her husband has a real zest for life. While he works as an attorney, George is constantly engaged in activities such as riding his motorcycle, practicing martial arts and playing lead guitar in his rock band, The Indubitable Equivalents.

Because of this, Kelakos often affectionately refers to George as "Ferris Bueller," after the perpetually young and fun-seeking title character in the 1986 film "Ferris Bueller's Day Off." Much like Ferris, George also has the innate ability to affect many people's lives for the better.

"He has touched so many people," Kelakos said. "He's a giver, and he's touched people all over the globe. He's a Renaissance man ... and he just helps people all over the world."

This is evident in the network of people who have been praying for George during his monthslong hospital stay and following his recovery on a few different Facebook pages, updates to which would spread like wildfire among his community of supporters, Kelakos said.

"There's so many prayer groups ... even a group of nuns in a convent down in Atlanta were praying for him," Kelakos said. "Everybody was just praying for him."

Many people made a point to reach out to Kelakos during this time, offering her support and seeking any further updates they could get on how George was doing.

"It's the only thing that kept me going really," Kelakos said. "Just an outpouring of love and support from everybody."

Kelakos said she is able to visit with George while he is in rehabilitation, and she will be there to support him every step of the way.

"After you've been in a hospital for that long and when you come out of a coma, you feel a little vulnerable," Kelakos said. "So I'm there for moral support. He's doing very very well."

Though her husband enjoys an active and fun-filled lifestyle, Kelakos emphasized the couple had been social distancing from people and had been very careful right up to the day George tested positive for the coronavirus.

"We did not do anything," Kelakos said. "We were not eating out, we didn't go out; we were very careful. We don't know how he could have gotten it."

After George tested positive for the virus, Kelakos got tested and discovered she also had it, though she was asymptomatic. She also noted her husband was healthy when he got the virus but it still hit him hard.

"Basically, how we get it and how it affects people is a mystery, so be vigilant," Kelakos said. "Just continue to be careful. You have to balance it with living, but also be careful."

Though she hopes people will take this advice to heart, she also hopes George's story will continue to inspire people and bring them hope.

"He's been an inspiration to a lot of people all over the globe really," Kelakos said. "People just like reaching out — people are just so happy."

Kelly also emphasized that this story speak volumes about the outcomes and the amount of attention physicians and staff are putting together collectively throughout the hospital and the Yale New Haven Health System at large.

"Regardless of the medicine, for the family this is everything," Kelly said. "This is why we do what we do."