Autumn Carver on her rehab discharge day.Photo: Laura Brown
It’s been a long road forAutumn Carver, but after a little over three months, the Indiana mom is finally headed home!
On Wednesday, 35-year-old Autumn — who has battledCOVID-19side effects for months — was finally discharged from Chicago’s Shirley Ryan AbilityLab rehab center.
The exciting moment was one she and her husband Zach had been looking forward to ever since she wasfirst hospitalized on Aug. 25after testing positive for COVID while pregnant with their third child.
“We’re so excited. We get to see our kiddos tomorrow,” Autumn tells PEOPLE. “It will be day 100 since I went into the hospital, so excited probably doesn’t cover it.”
Adds Zach: “I still have to pinch myself occasionally because I saw her in such bad shape for such a long time. I’m very happy that she’s alive. We went through this for a reason and we’re just extremely, extremely grateful, and we thank the good Lord for Autumn and her miracle.”
Zach and Autumn Carver.Laura Brown
A miracle once seemed unlikely for Autumn, who opted not to receive the COVID vaccine after discussing her three previous miscarriages with a doctor, according to NBC affiliateWTHR.
However, in ahealth advisory, the Centers for Disease Controlurgently warned pregnant women to get vaccinated against COVID-19because of the significant risk of hospitalization or death from the virus. Pregnancy significantly increases the likelihood of hospitalization or death if a person contracts COVID-19.
During Autumn’s medical battle, which Zach hascontinued to document online, Autumn was put on a ventilator before giving birth to their son Huxley via emergency C-section. She was laterplaced on an ECMO machine, where she remained for close to two months as the virus wreaked havoc on her lungs.
In October, Autumnwas transferredfrom IU Health Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, where Dr. Ankit Bharat, the chief of thoracic surgery at Northwestern Medicine, was expected to perform a lung transplant.
Autumn Carver and Dr. Ankit Bharat.Laura Brown
“When we took on Autumn, the probability was pretty low that she would get better because she had been on the ventilator and ECMO for an extended period of time,” Dr. Bharat tells PEOPLE. “If you need ECMO for over a month, your probability of coming off without something like a lung transplant is less than 5 percent.”
“But we looked at all her x-rays and ventilator settings and ECMO, and [decided to] reconfigure them and put her on a different form of ECMO that we believe is better for lung recovery,” he explains. “We changed everything, and we gave her some more time to improve. And she started to show improvement in her lung function. So we said, ‘Okay. Well, let’s just keep holding off on transplant because if you can get her better without a transplant, that’s always the best thing.'”
And that’s exactly what happened.
Autumn was slowly weaned off the ECMO machine in early October before getting tomeet Huxley in an emotional reunion on Oct. 19, which Zach called an"amazing moment."
The good news continued into November when Zach announced that his wife hadfinally been released from the hospital’s intensive care unitand was removed from her feeding tube.
In recent weeks, Autumn has focused onregaining her strength and mobilityafter being transferred from Northwestern Memorial Hospital to Shirley Ryan AbilityLab.
“I tried to ask Sadie, who is 4, what she wanted for Christmas and bless her little heart, the only thing she could come up with is that she wanted mommy to come home,” Autumn says.
“We did FaceTime and have seen pictures and lots of videos, but she hasn’t seen our daughters in 100 days and it’s put them through the wringer, as well as us,” Zach notes. “Every time I saw them, I would just tell them that mommy’s getting better. It’s going to be a long time, but we would say prayers for her every morning and I’d just reassure them that she’s going to come home … So we’re looking forward to that reunion.”
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Though she currently has a brace on her left leg due to nerve damage, Autumn says she is grateful for her second chance at life — and intends to use it wisely.
“I’m feeling really good,” she says. “It’s incredible how much your body can be deconditioned after laying in a hospital bed for so long. But I feel more and more like myself every day.”
“I’ve always said, with everything in life — with kids, and friends, and family — you pick your battles,” she adds. “Life is too short, so just be kind to people. You never know what people are going through. That was my biggest takeaway before and feels even more appropriate now to say.”
As information about thecoronavirus pandemicrapidly changes, PEOPLE is committed to providing the most recent data in our coverage. Some of the information in this story may have changed after publication. For the latest on COVID-19, readers are encouraged to use online resources from theCDC,WHOandlocal public health departments.PEOPLE has partnered with GoFundMeto raise money for the COVID-19 Relief Fund, a GoFundMe.org fundraiser to support everything from frontline responders to families in need, as well as organizations helping communities. For more information or to donate, clickhere.
source: people.com
