By Ken Robinson

Managing Editor

When we were 17 and out of high school, two buddies and I rented an apartment on 65th Avenue near Alki Beach and spent the summer goofing around.

One of the trio later moved to Bellingham and began a career in business and lives there still.

His story is, like many of us,  a checkered one, marked by marriage and divorce, loss of family members and the ups and down of life.

A few years go, he got to know a neighbor lady who was also single. In March, they decided to marry and planned a trip to Palm Springs to celebrate.

They knew they could go to Palm Springs and get a license fast and tie the knot.  His name is Mike. He is 75 years old. His new bride is Beth.

Mike got the flu in January and into February. But by mid-March he was feeling good.

Then his illness came back about a week before they planned to go. It did not seem serious. Mike decided to take meds and get down into the sunshine to feel better.

They they took off on Saturday, March 7 and he felt good . The next night, he felt terrible. He said he had to lay down and did not get up until the next morning.

He had difficulty breathing. They went to get the license on Monday and Mike’s head was bad. The discomfort did not go away. They went back to the friend's house were they were staying and on Wednesday, they were able  to do some stuff and Thursday, he found  the energy to make the appointment to get married. They married and went out to dinner but he did not feel well.

On Friday, Mike was lethargic and stayed in bed..

On Saturday, he told Beth: “Call 911.”

He could not breathe.

“The aid guys asked me to walk from the bedroom to the vehicle. That was it. I don’t remember much after that until I got to the ER”

The ER was packed and they put Mike to the head of the line. They put him in isolation and put a mask on him for a couple of days and he was breathing oxygen.

"I thought I was gonna die. They did too. Everything ached. My eyes hurt. My body hurt. The fear was horrible.

In my mind, I asked “how do you get past this?”

“The first doctor I talked to said ‘you are our first patient. We are pretty sure this is the virus. We have to work together to find a solution, We don’t know what to do but you you have to help us.”

“I believe that made me responsible to help save myself. I had to be responsible to help them help me.”

This doctor said “I’m not going to beat around the bush. We need your help in order to save you.”

“I kept thinking of Beth. This is not a fair honeymoon.“

“We were supposed to be leaving for home the day after we got married. I told her to go home.“

Beth was called by the health department a few days later to be told to quarantine at home ... she stayed there.

"I’m probably blessed and alive because the aid car took me to that hospital. The doctor and the staff promised they would get me home and that I had to fight like hell. I was at JFK Memorial Hospital in Indio, where a team led by Saeed Eskandari MD, nurses and all other hospital helpers were willing to be at risk to help me stay alive."

“These people risked everything to come in and help me. I was so comfortable with them. They were fighting and I could tell.”

Mike was in ICU for 23 days from March 7 to the 30th.

“My doctor said ‘I think you are not contagious but we don’t know.’ I tested positive until the the day before they moved me. You had to have two negative tests before they said I was clear.”

Mike’s doctor told him “Come back in a year and we’ll have a steak together.”

“My lung had collapsed and I sneezed hard and it was very painful. There was fluid in the lung and they drained it. I had to do breathing exercises. I had to take a powerful medication. “

When he got home last week, Mike and Beth went to a store to buy groceries.

I told Beth “I can’t deal with this. 80 percent of the people did not have masks on.”

“One of those people gave it to me. “

"It’s pretty nice to be alive, to be home and frustrating to see people not paying attention. I am blessed lucky and thank god for the people in the hospital who were so kind, helpful and dedicated.

I called the hospital to thank them. The nurse who answered said “Mr.” Mr. Kussman, we know who you are, You are our hero.”

He was the first and worst coronavirus patient at JFK.

“It was hard to sleep. I had a fear of breathing. I was trying to stay awake so I would not die. I have never been so scared.

I might have a shed tear. I told them “I’m scared.”

My doctor said “You’re my hero. You fought hard to survive this with our team. You were seriously ill. You need to tell your story. People don’t understand it and you are one of the small number of people who survived it. “

“They saved my life. We did do it together."