Coronavirus Survivor Thanks Police For Escort Home With Love

RIVERHEAD, NY — A nurse who contracted the coronavirus and spent two months in the hospital fighting for her life thanked Riverhead Police Chief David Hegermiller and other member of the force Friday for being there to escort her home in style after her terrifying battle.

"I was terrified," Doreen Williams, 48, said, when she shared the story of her coronavirus ordeal with Patch.

Williams grew up in Riverhead and now lives in Center Moriches. She was working at Peconic Landing in Greenport as a per diem employee and at Peconic Bay Medical Center in Riverhead as a dialysis nurse in March when her world turned upside down with the COVID diagnosis —she was in the hospital from March 27 to May 28, and intubated for 33 days.

When she finally left the hospital, hospital staff held a "clap out" for her, Williams said.

And not just that, but Riverhead Police gave her a police escort home; Williams has family members that work for the town and the police department, including her uncle Juan Ayala — and members of the department showed up in a fierce show of support and love.

While at first the police wanted to drive Williams home to Moriches, she asked, instead, to go to her mother's house."My mother took this very hard. She is elderly," William said. "When I was in the hospital, she didn't want to answer the phone. So I said to the officers, 'Can we please go to my mother's house?' The hug I received from my mom, when she told me how much she loved me, was priceless."

On Friday, Williams showed up at the Riverhead Police Department with a heart full of thanks, to tell Police Chief David Hegermiller and the officers who'd brought her home with such care, just what the gesture meant.

"My mom has lost so much weight, she was so worried about me. My baby cousin, Salome Ayala, was so worried — and the chief gave me a police escort, all the way home. I'm just a nurse — I was thrilled. He stopped traffic and everything. I felt like the queen."

Hegermiller even called the hospital, Williams said, to ask when she was being discharged. "After the chief called, everyone wanted to know how I was feeling," she smiled.

The long journey behind her, Wiliams said, on Friday: "I'm good now. I'm doing well. A month ago, I wasn't walking. Now I'm walking and driving."

Hegermiller said he and the rest of the department were overjoyed by the outcome. "This is great," he said. "We're very happy that Doreen is out of the hospital and back with us now."

Williams also brought pizza for all to enjoy.

Salome Ayala, Williams' cousin, said she'd asked if the Riverhead police could send just one or two cars to escort her home. "I was overwhelmed by the response," she said. "We really appreciate it. We just wanted to welcome her home and let her know that we prayed for her every single day. To have them welcome her home like that really mans a lot to our family."

Williams' daughter Cherish Brown described how it felt to have her mother home safe: "Love would be a understatement; my mother is my everything. I tell her all the time how proud I am to be her daughter. She came so far and her progress is so amazing."

She added: "My mother is my best friend. I tell her everything. Honestly, I was completely lost without her. I just didn’t even let anyone know, that wasn’t close to me. I had to hold it together for my boys."

Close friends and family were a lifeline during the days of uncertainty, she said.

Brown said during the dark days, she received support from her son's father William Sr., as well as family friend Wendy Lechner. Both, she said, "still help me get through this because even thought my mom is back, the recovery isn’t easy. My son's father William said, 'God wouldn’t give us anything we couldn’t handle.' If I’m crying, I’m leaning or their shoulders for sure," she said. "They know how to pick me up and put me back on my feet."

Friends also turned out Monday to see Williams greet members of the department, including Riverhead Police Detective Evelyn Hobson. Of Williams' recovery, she said: "It's a blessing. Doreen and her family and I go a long way back."

The terrifying coronavirus journey

While she does not know how she got the coronavirus, Williams said she believes she may have been exposed at work. In the hospital, Williams was comatose and suffered three strokes, kidney failure and seizures. Doctors told her that they "almost lost her" twice. She learned that a former patient that she had cared for died from COVID-19.

Williams said she knew something was wrong when she began running a fever that spiked as high at 104 degrees. She became sick in March, before stringent social distancing protocols had been put in place, she said.

When she first became sick and found out that she would have to be intubated, she said: "I was scared." Her niece, who is a physician's assistant, advised her that a ventilator was her best option. "I told her, 'I trust you with my life, but I'm 48 years old. Why do I have to go on the ventilator? There has to be another way.'"

There wasn't — and Williams was intubated for 33 long days. She doesn't remember much of the following weeks, but she does remember, before she was intubated, telling her daughter Cherish what to do if faced with the unthinkable. "I just had this feeling," she said. "I gave her instructions on what to do if something happened to me."

Cherish described the nightmare of not knowing if her mother would live: "It was the worst feeling in the world," she said. "My mom was preparing me because she didn't know if she was going to make it. She said, 'This is it.'"

Her mother, she said, couldn't breathe. When she got to the hospital, she FaceTimed with Cherish.

"Then I didn't speak to her for 33 days," Cherish said. "Going from talking to her every single day to not talking to her for 33 days, I was beyond crushed."

Her mother, she said, is also close to her sons Jonathan, 9, and William, 1, as well as her other grandson Elijah, 11.

'I feel like Wonder Woman'

When she woke up after her coma, Williams said: "I lost two months of my life in the hospital, from March 27 to May 28. To know that I survived it? I feel like Wonder Woman."

As grateful as she is to have survived, Williams said her journey with coronavirus hasn't been easy.

"It was horrible," she said. "To wake up and have someone tell you have been on a ventilator for 33 days — and to be a nurse and know what that means? I was crying when I woke up. I couldn't sleep for weeks. The worst part of if was because it was COVID-19, your family couldn't even come visit."

Her children, her grandson, and her husband came to the window at the hospital to wave to her through the glass, she said.

The physical challenges, Williams said, were daunting: "I woke up and my left hand didn't work. I started screaming," she said. She is currently undergoing occupational therapy and will need to continue for at least 180 days, she said. "I can't pick up a glass. My hand is stiff and in a lot of pain," she said.

As a nurse for more than 20 years, Williams said: "I didn't expect that I would ever get sick. My job is to help people." As a dialysis nurse, she said, she has found her niche. Having a patient who has been receiving dialysis receive a kidney, she said, is the greatest feeling in the world.

"That's my purpose in life," Williams said. "To help people."

When she finally left the hospital, Williams said: "I was able to see my daughter and give her a hug. She is my best friend."

She was also able to see her grandson, Williams said, and hug her husband. "Just to be able to touch my family was everything," she said.

With her trademark invincible spirit, Williams is not using a walker or a cane. "When I tell you that God is awesome, I mean it. He's so good to me. I'm just ecstatic."

Her whole life has changed since she was diagnosed with coronavirus, Williams said.

"My doctor told me, 'Doreen, God has given you a second chance at life. You use this second chance wisely,'" she said.

A GoFundMe has been organized by Williams' niece Casi Kozerski.

"We are all so proud of her for her strength and persistence to begin healing again," she said. "There are many who didn't make it from this virus, but she kept pushing! But, while she was under, her bills piled up and now, while she is recovering, while she is in therapy to relearn the basics of movement . . she has to worry about how she will pay her bills."

She added: "My family and I love her and want her to continue focusing on healing so that she can have a normal life again. This fundraiser will help her not only financially, but mentally and spiritually, as well."

To donate, click here.

GoFundMe is a Patch promotional partner.