APOPKA, Fla. – Turning 95 years old carries a little more weight for Thelma Patterson.
Balloons filled the entryway to Daphne Johnson’s Apopka home, where her mother Patterson continues to recover from COVID-19-related complications.
Patterson told News 6 she tested positive for COVID-19 in late June.
“I beat it, yes I beat it,” she said. “It wasn’t easy for me, sometimes I felt like I was going to leave but God said no.”
Like many others, Johnson told News 6 she feared the worst when she first learned that her mother contracted the coronavirus.
“I cried, I was angry,” she said. “You have that fear because you don’t always have a success story like this.”
Patterson detailed how she spent quite some time in isolation after being admitted to AdventHealth Altamonte Springs, with family unable to visit her.
“You don’t see anybody for four to six hours,” she said.
Daughter Brenda Patterson-Knight remembers that experience vividly.
“We thought we might have lost our mom,” she said. “She was fighting harder than we were because we were sitting around and crying for her because we thought it was the end.”
Eventually, Johnson said that family members could visit Patterson once she was moved into a different unit during her recovery.
Since being discharged, Patterson has been readmitted to the hospital twice for complications related to the coronavirus.
Despite all that, Patterson’s children call her a fighter, and said they’re planning a drive-thru birthday celebration for this weekend, so the family can safely see her and wish her a happy birthday.
“It’s been a journey,” Johnson said. “I love her. That’s mom.”
Patterson credits her faith with helping her get through the whole ordeal, and her advice to others is simple.
“Fight for your life,” Patterson said.