BENTON, Ark. — After a difficult fight and many days of uncertainty, Anna McClure's family said it's a miracle she beat COVID-19.
McClure, 72, spent 44 days fighting COVID-19 in a room alone at Saline Memorial Hospital in Benton.
On Wednesday, McClure celebrated her discharge with family, friends, and hospital staff. The emotions were high.
"You have to prepare for the worst to happen, but you have to have that hope,” said Candace McCown, McClure’s granddaughter.
Staff wheeled McClure out on a red carpet with chants and praise around her, McCown said her grandmother’s fight was far less glamorous.
"As soon as you'd have two good days, you'd have the two worst days," said McCown.
Doctor Ahmad Yousaf, McClure’s physician, had to make a call to the family at one point so they could say their final goodbye.
"For the first two days, she didn't want a tube, even if that meant she would die,” said Dr. Yousaf.
Doctors finally came to an agreement to get McClure on a ventilator for a better chance of survival, but tough conversations followed.
"She actually held my hand and made me promise her that we take the tube out if she wasn't any better and allow her to pass away,” said Yousaf.
Instead, McClure walked away with a winning fight Wednesday and leaving the doubts behind.
"It's pretty amazing and we can't thank them [hospital staff] enough,” said McCown.
McClure’s family has no idea where she caught the virus.
They say she had been to a handful of places since the end of February.
But they encourage people to stay diligent about social distancing, especially around the elderly and immunocompromised.