‘Meet’ 2 COVID survivors who each spent several months at Silver Cross Hospital in New Lenox

George Fushi, 56, of Frankfort and Brad Moss, 47, of Tinley Park fought COVID-19 long and hard.

Both went into Silver Cross Hospital in July and neither went home until late fall. And both are looking at life a bit differently now.

Fushi always thought he was healthy at 425 pounds because he lifted weights.

“It made me realize, ‘What in the heck was I doing?’” Fushi said. “I felt invincible…I never got sick before in my life. I’ve hardly ever gone to the doctor. If I got the flu, it lasted 24 hours. I just didn’t think COVID would affect me.”

Moss said he takes nothing for granted and lives one day at a time.

“I told my wife, ‘I don’t want to put things off anymore,’ ” Moss said. “If there’s something we want to do, let’s go for it. There’s no point in waiting for retirement or anything like that.”

George Fushi’s story

George said he and his family took a vacation to Key West, Florida in June 2021. Once home, George felt tired and eventually tested postive for COVID-19.

After feeling sick for “five or six days,” George told his wife Tracy “something” didn’t feel right. Tracy suggested he check his oxygen levels on his Apple Watch, he said. The levels were 69. As Tracy called for an ambulance, George checked them again: 40.

That’s when the paramedics arrived, he said.

“I walked out to the stretcher, got in the ambulance, and that’s the last thing I remember,” George said. “I didn’t wake up for 30 days.”

George was admitted to Silver Cross on July 2 and wasn’t released until late October, a news release from Silver Cross said.

“The doctors told my wife and kids that I was not going to make it,” George said. “They said I would die in the next day or two.”

Dr. Alexander Sosenko, who specializes in pulmonary disease medicine, said in the release that COVID-19 patients like George “typically don’t do very well.”

“There were a lot of patients like him who did not live,” Sosenko said in the release.

George recalled waking up from the coma on Aug. 3. According to the release, Tracy said the family was told George might have cognitive dysfunction from being the coma so long. He was transferred from Silver Cross to RML Specialty Hospital in Hinsdale with the goal of weaning him off the ventilator. Ten days later, George breathed on his own, according to the release.

Two weeks after that, he was on his feet – with the help of a “giant metal monstrosity,” George said.

“They strapped me into it and began to lift me up,” George said. “I had pain in my knees and my legs. The most pain I’ve had in my life.”

George worked hard, and, by early October, he went to the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab at Silver Cross for three weeks to address his muscle weakness.

Dr. Ross Coolidge, who oversees the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab, and physical therapist Natalie McGraw said in the release George worked hard to improve.

“He had sessions seven days a week for a total of three hours a day, and he improved each session,” McGraw said in the release. “Within a few days, he actually was walking a little; then more and more each day.”

George continues to progress. He and Tracy own a title research company, but he’s not working yet. Therapy uses up his energy because he “lost so much muscle,” George said. He’s afraid of large gatherings “while COVID is running rampant” and his two best friends, including his training partner, recently died. George said he’s supposed to wait a few months before getting vaccinated.

But he’s “going to keep fighting no matter what,” he said.

George’s children are 26, 24, 21, 19 and 16. To donate, visit gofund.me/6ecc0589.

Brad Moss’s story

In July, Brad Moss and his family – wife, Amy, and sons, Eddie, 16, and Danny, 13 – went to Myrtle Beach, Florida, and experienced mild flu-like symptoms after they returned home, Brad said.

Brad said he suspected they had COVID-19 because Amy had lost her sense of taste and smell.

“Once I got sick, I knew what was happening,” Brad said. “It was just a flu feeling for me. I was really just lethargic and tired. I didn’t have a fever or anything like that. It was more of just not being able to get off the bed or the couch.”

Amy, Eddie and Danny started feeling better in less than a week. Brad did not and fainted twice without warning, he said. The paramedics came out the first time and gave Brad some oxygen, he said. The second time, he went to Silver Cross. He tested positive for COVID-19 and low blood pressure and oxygen levels, despite not feeling short of breath.

“They said it was a good thing I’d gotten there,” Brad said.

Brad said he developed a hematoma about a week later.

“From there it was just a lot of ups and downs and blood clots and the possibility of leg amputation,” Brad said.

Brad’s left foot had started losing sensation and feeling cold to the touch. Initial tests suggested blood had stopped flowing to that foot; a later test showed a slight tricle of blood, so doctors canceled the surgery, he said.

“Then they discovered blood clots in both legs, one doctor saying more than he ever had seen,” Brad said in the release. “So, they did surgery to remove the clots behind both knees.”

Dr. John Mikuzis, a specialist physical medicine and Rehabilitation at Silver Cross, saw Brad for therapy after that surgery.

“He was really debilitated; his legs were weak from the surgery. But after a few sessions, his oxygen levels were better and he was walking about 100 feet at time,” Mikuzis said according to the release. “Then, things started to get worse again. They intubated him, and then his kidneys started to fail.”

Before going on the ventilator, Brad spent a few minutes with Amy because “I was not really confident I would come off,” Brad said.

“His condition was really grave,” Mikuzis said in the release. “At one point, we thought we were going to lose him. But then he started to rally again.”

Brad did come off the ventilator – 23 days later, on Sept. 27, the day before his birthday. But then Brad’s gall bladder flared. Since he was too weak for surgery, doctors drained the gall bladder instead, which fixed the issue, he said.

“The luck is finally starting to turn,” Brad said.

Brad was released from Silver Cross on Nov. 12. But he continued receiving physical therapy at the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab in Homewood to strengthen his legs and upper body. He is now vaccinated and back to work as a senior manager at the Chicago Transit Authority.

But the turning point for Brad watching his sons play sports again.

“Just going to the games was one of the biggest things I could do to get back on track,” Brad said. “Just sitting at the game and being around the other parents and watching the kids play – that was a huge step in my recovery process.”