29-year-old who spent weeks in ICU with COVID-19 finally heads home

Two months and one week after going into the hospital with COVID-19, Khalid Eldaliis finally able to hold his six-month old daughter again.

It's a reunion Eldali and his wife,AsmaaAddi, weren't sure would happen.

The 29-year-old from Carleton Place, Ont., contractedCOVID-19 at the end ofOctober and spent nine weeks in the hospital. For half that time, he wasin the intensive care uniton a ventilator.

It was in the middle of a phone call with Addi when Eldalisuddenly found himself unable to breathe.

"[I had] chest pain and I was doing very badly," Eldali said."I couldn't breathe at all, and that's when I called 911. And from there, I don't remember anything else."

Put on a ventilator and sedated

Eldali was admitted toQueensway Carleton Hospital on Nov. 5. He was put on a ventilator and sedated.

Initially, hospital staff would organize video chats with Addi. It was the only way she could see her husband while she was self-isolating at home, waiting for confirmation that she also didn't have COVID-19.

Addi said she spent every moment with their baby, wearing a mask.

"I was so stressed. I didn't want to eat.I was just crying the whole time," Addi said.

Adding to that stress, she added,was the fact both Eldali's brother and father also contracted COVID-19 and ended up in the hospital.

Told he wouldn't survive

Throughout November, Eldali'scondition worsened andAddi was eventually told her husband likely wouldn't survive.

"They called me and told me that he'sdying. He'snot going to be able to make it until the morning.He's got a couple of hours," said Addi, who then went to the hospital to be with her husband.

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"I holdhis hand and I start praying and crying and praying, and I told my whole family to start praying. And all of the sudden, he squeezes my hand and he opens his eyes," she said.

But Eldali's recovery would not be quick or easy.

"I couldn't move. Like, I couldn't move at all," he said of his first moments after waking up."It was just horrible."

'Can happen to anyone'

Eldali would spend another month in hospital, before being released only just last week.

He said he's notsure how he got sick in the first place, and while he's prone to getting pneumonia, he'd never experienced an illness like this.

Although he'dgone into work during the pandemic, he'd spent as much time as possible at home.

"I thought, 'I'm not going to get it,' because I'm always wearing the mask, taking care, sanitizing. I never knew that it's going to happen like this," he said.

Eldaliis still regaining his strength, but he'sgrateful to be home with his family. He said he wants his story to be a lessonthat COVID-19 "can happen to anyone."

WATCH | How it feels to finally be home:

29-year-old home after spending two months in hospital with COVID-19

4 years ago

Duration 1:32

Khalid Eldali was admitted to hospital with COVID-19 on Nov. 5. He would spend the next nine weeks there, on a ventilator for much of the time, with his wife Asmaa and their six-month-old daughter waiting at home.