By Laura French
NEW YORK — An FDNY paramedic who was placed on a ventilator in March after contracting COVID-19 has regained consciousness and is on the road to recovery.
FDNY Paramedic Christell Cadet, 34, shared her experience with the virus in mid-March, days before she was no longer able to breathe on her own and was placed in a medically-induced coma.
Cadet woke up last week and is now able to speak, saying the experience has changed her and given her a new appreciation for life, according to the New York Daily News.
She is now at home and relearning how to fully walk and talk again with help from her mother, who is a nurse.
“This goes to (show) Christell and the rest of the paramedics that they are resilient,” FDNY EMS union President Oren Barzilay told the Daily News. “Her grave situation was extremely concerning to us as she is loved by all of us. To hear that she is doing much better is a huge relief.”
At the time that Cadet was placed on a ventilator, 46 FDNY members were confirmed to have COVID-19 and two were hospitalized. Last week, Uniformed Firefighter Association President Gerard Fitzgerald said nearly 3,000 members have tested positive.
A total of 10 FDNY members, including four EMS members, have died from the virus.