Following 111 days of hospitalization and “cheating death” multiple times during in a bout with COVID-19, Tito Velasquez of Valley Stream has been named a “miracle patient” by the staff at Northwell Health.
Velasquez’ journey to recovery began when he was admitted to the emergency department at Long Island Jewish Valley Stream Hospital on April 28 with a dangerously low oxygen saturation level of 11 percent. He was placed on a ventilator, the first effort to save his life before a tragic chain of life-threatening events began to unfold.
“Usually after a patient is put on a ventilator, his oxidation will go up to 100 percent,” said Dr. Jason Yan, emergency physician at LIJVS. “But Mr. Velasquez’ oxygenation only went up to 60 percent. We realized that this was a COVID patient who had also suffered a stroke.”
After a CT scan revealed the presence of a blood clot in his brain, Dr. Yan treated the condition with clot-buster medications.
During this time, Dr. Kiki Poumpouridis, an interventional cardiologist at LIJVS working with the ICU team, noted, “Mr. Velasquez’ body was unable to oxygenate properly, and he was rapidly declining.”
Doctors decided to use an ECMO machine to assist the patient’s recovery. ECMO technology uses a pump to circulate blood through an artificial lung in order to oxygenate the blood and give the organs rest to recover.
The ECMO-TO-GO team from North Shore University Hospital (NSUH) in Manhasset was deployed and Dr. Harold Fernandez, a cardiothoracic surgeon from that hospital, placed Velasquez on the ECMO machine at LIJVS. Almost immediately, his oxygenation level rose to 100 percent.
Velasquez was then transferred to North Shore Long Island Jewish Medical Center in New Hyde Park, where he spent one month on ECMO and remained on a ventilator. There, he survived several more near-death episodes, including another stroke and a collapsed lung.
Still dependent on a ventilator and paralyzed on his left side, Velasquez was transported to Northern Westchester Hospital in Mount Kisco, Westchester County, to begin rehabilitation in its Acute Ventilator Recovery Unit on June 9.
It was there that he was gradually weaned off the ventilator and built the strength to breathe on his own. Not long after, he regained the ability to eat and walk unassisted.
“Tito has had a tremendous journey,” said Dr. Richard Stumacher, chief of pulmonology and critical care at Northern Westchester, who oversaw Velasquez’ care. “He never gave up, mentally or emotionally. When I saw him stand up and take those first few steps and walk down the hallway, it was incredible.”
On July 10, Velasquez was transferred to the Stern Family Center for Rehabilitation at LIJ, where he completed his recovery.
“Seeing Mr. Velasquez walk out of Stern today on his own was probably one of the most satisfying moments of my career,” Poumpouridis said. “He came in very sick and the chances of him walking out with any kind of function was so low that to see him walk out, fully recovered, made me cry.”
As he was discharged on Aug. 17, members of the medical staff from each of the Northwell Health facilities that provided his treatment applauded him, and Velasquez was released into his family’s care.
“I feel really grateful,” Velasquez said through an interpreter.
He added that he would continue his life after treatment “one day at a time, whatever God brings.”
