Recovered COVID-19 patient celebrates good health with neighborhood ice cream party

Health care provider brings ice cream truck while socially-distant dancing happens in the streets

THE VILLAGES, Fla. – Neighbors in one part of Sumter County had a reason to celebrate after one of their own beat COVID-19.

Tony Perry was recently medically cleared by doctors after he tested positive for coronavirus following a trip to New England he took with his wife earlier this year. The two returned home on March 7 and it wasn’t until March 13 that Tony Perry noticed he wasn’t feeling well.

“Symptoms just got worse, temperature went up, and it was harder to breathe,” Tony Perry said.

Shortly thereafter, Tony Perry tested positive for the coronavirus.

“I had a really big suspicion from the moment he was sick that it was COVID-19,” his wife Susan Perry, a nurse and vice dean for the College of Nursing at USF, said.

Since then, Tony Perry was hospitalized while his wife was quarantined at home.

“That was hard, to not know if I was ever going to see him again,” Susan Perry said. “But [my neighbors] brought me lunch. I’m going to start crying. They brought me lunch. They left food outside my door. Someone brought my mail. I don’t know how I could have made it without the nurses at the hospital and this group of people. Who has neighbors like this? It’s unreal.”

Neighbor Dea Pezella nominated their street for the ice cream truck, as a way to celebrate Tony Perry's recovery.

"We're happy to have him home," she said. "We just need to get outside and socialize but keep within the distancing rules and have a little fun that's all."

“I feel great, I would like to say I’m back to 100 percent,” Tony Perry added.

The "Hump Day" ice cream party is sponsored by Premier Medical Associates, as well as Sumter Place, the Tri-County Caregiver Resource Center, Concierge Healthcare and Greystone Health, and takes places every Wednesday.

"We were in isolation because we were talking to Tony the day before he got sick," neighbor Cecil Byrd said. "I think it's a miracle [Tony is doing better,] I really do."

Those wishing for their own streets to be a site for the next party should email info@pmacare.com, write “Hump Day Madness” in the subject line and detail why their street deserves ice cream.

The money raised at the event will go toward helping first responders and health care professionals who need it.


About the Author:

It has been an absolute pleasure for Clay LePard living and working in Orlando since he joined News 6 in July 2017. Previously, Clay worked at WNEP TV in Scranton, Pennsylvania, where he brought viewers along to witness everything from unprecedented access to the Tobyhanna Army Depot to an interview with convicted double-murderer Hugo Selenski.

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