COVID-19 almost killed him; on Saturday, New Jersey man ran 20 miles between hospitals that saved him
Paulo Santos (top center) with wife Christine Santos (left) and their children Ava (bottom center) and Paulo Jr. at Jersey Shore University Medical Center after Paulo's 20-mile run Saturday.
On April 10, 2020, Paulo Santos staggered up the driveway of his Manalapan, New Jersey, home, leaning heavily on a walker. The distance was only a few feet. It felt like scaling Mount Everest.
“I couldn’t stand for more than 30 seconds at a time without my legs collapsing from weakness,” he recalled.
Santos had just been discharged from the hospital,
where a near-fatal case of COVID-19 forced him onto a ventilator for two weeks. He’d lost 45 pounds. When he took off his shirt, his wife of 11 years was stunned.
“He was so gaunt,” Christine Santos said, “he had excess skin hanging.”
Members of the staff at CentraState Healthcare System, Freehold, send Paulo Santos off on his 20-mile run Saturday
An overwhlemed Paulo Santos (in red) is greeted by wife Christine Santos (left) upon his arrival at Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune after running 20 miles from CentraState Healthcare in Freehold Saturday.
How he was saved
While Santos was on life support, doctors made the crucial decision to transfer him to Jersey Shore University Medical Center, which had gained approval to use the drug Remdesivir on COVID patients. Dr. Eric Costanzo, director of critical care services at Jersey Shore, had assembled a “prone” team to deal with intubated patients. Lying prone — on the stomach, arms positioned above the shoulders — maximizes oxygen intake for struggling lungs. The problem: Over a long term, that position causes nerve damage.
The prone team consists of a respiratory therapist and five attendants to ensure patients aren’t lying in one position for too long.
“We’ve extubated 170 critically ill COVID cases,” Costanzo said. “We haven’t had negative feedback on nerve issues.”
Paulo Santos (center, in red) is greeted by members of the staff of Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune upon his arrival after running 20 miles Saturday.
Thus began a long road back, which included a post-COVID heart attack. On Saturday, exactly 12 months after his discharge, the 40-year-old turned the page once and for all with a remarkable feat. He ran the 20 miles from Freehold Township’s CentraState Healthcare System, where he initially checked in last March, to Neptune’s Jersey Shore University Medical Center, where he was transferred in a desperate bid to keep him alive.
He ran to raise money for the doctors and nurses who saved him, and mostly to say thank you. The feat took a little under five hours. Staff members from each hospital gathered at both the starting and finish lines, holding signs and cheering.
