Maine Woman With COVID-19 Wakes Up After 60 Days On Ventilator

An elderly woman with COVID-19 has miraculously woken up after spending 60 days on a ventilator in Maine.

Bettina Lerman, 69, tested positive for the virus in December. She fell into a coma afterward, reported WBAL.

Her son, Andrew Lerman, told WMTW his mother woke up a day before they decided to turn off her life support. He added that Bettina was unvaccinated and had underlying health conditions, including diabetes.

Andrew said the family had already made funeral arrangements and was about to purchase a headstone when the hospital called to deliver the good news.

"He goes, 'Well I need you to come up to the hospital right away.' I'm like, What? Is something wrong?' He goes, 'Well your mother just woke up.' I literally dropped the phone. I was like, what? I mean because we were supposed to be terminating life support that day," Andrew recalled as per the outlet.

He and his wife rushed to the hospital and saw that Bettina was able to breathe on her own with some oxygen support.

"We asked her, do you remember anybody talking to you and coming to see you? And she shook her head yes. So, even though she couldn’t respond, even tho she was in that coma, she knew people came to visit her," Andrew said further.

He added that they "give her words of encouragement" every day to "keep fighting."

The family has decided to get her vaccinated.

"I think the right thing to do is to get vaccinated, so if one of our family members gets it again it won't be that bad," Andrew explained.

He also urged people with relatives who are currently in the hospital due to COVID-19 not to lose hope.

Despite the tragic turn of events for countless COVID-19 patients who lost their lives, stories about people surviving after long bouts with the deadly infection have also been rife online.

Last month, a pastor who spent nearly a year on a ventilator after being ravaged by COVID-19 was finally able to return home. Hector Garcia, 61, of Federal Way, Washington, spent a total of 304 days on a ventilator at five hospitals. He reportedly began showing COVID-19 symptoms on October 24, 2020, and was hospitalized a week later because his oxygen levels were going down drastically. He was so ill and had infections in his blood, urine and lungs that his family was told he would not make it. However, Garcia beat the odds and bounced back to life.