‘It was like a scene from a movie’: Inside one patient’s emotional reunion with family after recovering from COVID-19

By Lucy Lau

Antonio Lamanna describes the time he spent in Michael Garron Hospital’s (MGH) Intensive Care Unit (ICU) as a blur. But he vividly remembers the moment when, after battling and beating COVID-19 without family by his bedside for more than two months, he was finally reunited with his wife, Rosie.

“It was like a scene from a movie,” Antonio, or Tony as he’s better known, says. “The nurses, the floor supervisor — they were all crying.”

The 57-year-old can’t stop tears from welling up in his own eyes as he recounts the experience from late June. Days after seeing his wife, when the province loosened its visitor restrictions in acute care settings, he was also able to see his 21-year-old daughter, Victoria, for the first time in more than 70 days.

“It was emotional but I tried not to cry,” Victoria says. “I wanted to make sure it was a happy, positive thing.”

Tony was admitted to MGH in April when a fever, incessant coughs and a “massive headache” brought him to the emergency room. He was tested for COVID-19 and stayed overnight in MGH’s respiratory unit. The next night, as his health deteriorated, he was transferred to the ICU and placed on a ventilator. It was confirmed he had tested positive for COVID-19.

“His condition was critical,” says Hailey Schwass, a registered nurse in MGH’s ICU who helped care for Tony. “We only had one or two other patients with COVID-19 at the time and he was one of the sickest.”

Tony says he doesn’t remember much after that. But Victoria recalls the moment she and her family were informed of his move to the ICU. “Our hearts dropped,” she says. “We were like, ‘Oh my gosh, can we go see him? Can we go be with him?’ But there weren’t any visitors allowed. It was hard, but we understood.”

“It was emotional but I tried not to cry,” Victoria says. “I wanted to make sure it was a happy, positive thing.”

For the next six weeks, Tony underwent treatments like proning, the process of safely moving a patient from their back onto their stomach to improve respiration. Although Tony was intubated and placed in a medically induced coma, which helped prevent further damage to his lungs, the nursing team in the ICU ensured he was always connected to his family.

Victoria says Hailey made it a priority to set up Tony with an iPad and access to Zoom as soon as he arrived, a practice that became commonplace in MGH’s ICU when the province implemented hospital visitor restrictions during the peak of COVID-19.

“I can't imagine having someone so close to me being so sick and not being able to see them in person,” Hailey says. “I think that’s why all of us in the ICU did whatever we could to try and connect with the patients’ families as much as possible virtually.”

That included Hailey and others reaching out to Victoria and Rosie during the day, often out of the blue. “Sometimes I would get calls from the nurses where they’d ask, ‘Hey, do you want to talk to your dad?’” Victoria says. “At first, it was mostly me talking to him. I wasn’t sure if he could hear me but I wanted to tell him it was going to be fine, that he was going to beat this thing. And then, as he started to wake up more, we’d have little conversations.”

These calls, part of MGH’s video family visit program, were what got Victoria and her mom through most days. Victoria says she hoped seeing and hearing from them would give her dad an extra push in his fight against COVID-19. Chris Power, a nursing attendant in MGH’s recovery and operating rooms who had been redeployed to the ICU at the time, had a similar thought. He asked Victoria if she’d be open to e-mailing images of her and her family to the hospital so they could be printed and put up in Tony’s room.

“I wanted him to be able to wake up and see someone he loves,” says Chris, who later discovered he had mutual friends in East York with the Lamannas. “It’s something I suggest to all patients. I treat everyone like they’re family.”

These photographs — of Tony and Rosie vacationing in Las Vegas, of Tony smiling with a baby Victoria — now adorn the wall opposite Tony’s bed in MGH’s respiratory unit, where he’s recovering after COVID-19 and a successful surgery that removed excess fluid from his right lung. He says he remembers the day he became well enough to be transferred to MGH’s Provincial Prolonged-Ventilation Weaning Centre of Excellence.

“They were wheeling me out and bringing me here,” he says. “And everyone was clapping.”

Leading the procession was Hailey with an iPad in hand and Victoria’s and Rosie’s faces onscreen. “They had been so strong for him during his entire stay in the ICU,” says Hailey. “Despite the setbacks, they were always his number one cheerleader. We were so proud of him for leaving, and I knew they would appreciate seeing him leave, too.”

“I can't imagine having someone so close to me being so sick and not being able to see them in person,” Hailey says. “I think that’s why all of us in the ICU did whatever we could to try and connect with the patients’ families as much as possible virtually.”Hailey, Chris and other members of the ICU’s nursing team have since visited Tony in the respiratory unit. He says he thanked them for saving his life — even though he didn’t exactly recognize their faces. “I didn’t know who any of them were,” Tony says with a laugh. “But we remember them,” Victoria adds.

Tony’s condition has since progressed significantly. When he was transferred to the respiratory unit, he lacked mobility because of the extended time he was sedated. Now, he’s moving his arms and legs and eating on his own. He continues to work with MGH’s physiotherapists and occupational therapists to regain his strength. “He’s come so far,” Victoria says. “Proud of him is an understatement.”

Tony now sees his family in person four times a week and through FaceTime otherwise. They help him wash his hair and complete other tasks (“We try to give the nurses a little break,” says Victoria), and just chat about life.

Tony says being able to see his family has helped immensely in his recovery. As someone who rigorously followed public health guidelines, he says, to this day, he doesn’t know where and how he contracted COVID-19. He wants his experience to be a wake-up call for those who aren’t taking the virus seriously.

“Be careful out there and protect yourself very well,” he says. “Because I thought I was doing that. And look where I am today.”

Tony calls MGH’s staff “miracle workers.” He says he looks forward to eventually going home, where he can sit in the backyard with his family. Perhaps they’ll start a bonfire, he says, and just talk. Victoria feels the same way.

“Obviously you break down and you cry so much,” she says. “But miracles do happen. There are so many people who went above and beyond for my father. You just have to keep strong.”