She spent 90 days hospitalized with COVID. Her battle is far from over

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – A Hawaii Island woman on a slow path to recovery after a lengthy hospital stay battling COVID-19.

The virus is having lasting effects on the body of 68-year-old Karen Lindsey.

She still struggles to speak and breath on her own, but decided to share her story from a hospital bed.

“Sometimes we have to put away the politics and you know, go with what you truly feel works and is necessary,” Lindsey said.

“It’s very devastating to go through this knowing it can be prevented,” her husband Leabert Lindsey added.

Karen was discharged to a skilled nursing facility over the weekend. She spent the last three months in the hospital.

She wasn’t yet vaccinated when she started to feel COVID symptoms after a family gathering in Utah in late May.

On June 19, she was admitted to Queen’s Punchbowl where she spent the next 90 days battling severe COVID pneumonia.

Much of her time was spent in the ICU.

While there, she suffered from severe respiratory failure and multiple organ failures.

“She’s not out of the woods. I think at this point, she’s got a long road of recovery ahead of her, but really that sense of getting back to the family is what keeps her going,” Queen’s Medical Center Doctor Kuo-Chiang Lian said.

Lindsey has since gotten her shot and her husband is vaccinated as well. He never caught the virus and they both hope her story will lead others to do what they must to prevent the disease from spreading.

“Get vaccinated. Believe me you don’t want to go through this,” Leabert said.

“If you can look not just at the statistics, but at how many people are infected… If there’s any way to prevent horrific illness, that would be a number one goal,” Karen said.

The couple added a messaged of thanks to the Queen’s staff members who focused on caring for Karen along with their loved ones across the nation.

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