For two months, Zahie El Baytam, a 93-year-old Palestinian-American, was in comatose after contracting COVID-19.

Her family was told to prepare for her death. But to the shock of her family and her doctors, the elderly woman survived in what was described as remarkable recovery as per reports from The National.

According to the report, El Baytam lives in Lebanon but was in the UAE visiting her family when she got infected with COVID-19. While staying with her daughter and granddaughter in Abu Dhabi, she began complaining of short breath and was having a high temperature.

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El Baytam was brought to the Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi where she tested positive for COVID-19. The mother of 12 was otherwise healthy but was considered as a high-risk patient due to her age. Her health deteriorated rapidly and a week after she taken to the hospital, she fell into a coma and had to be placed on a ventilator.

“Several times we thought we were going to lose her,” said Nuha Ibreeq, the patient’s granddaughter. Ibreeq said doctors told the family to prepare for their grandmother’s death.

“My grandmother means the world to me … The two months waiting for a call saying that she passed away was torture,” she said. After two months in hospital, El Baytam woke from her coma although she still needed a ventilator.

“We honestly never expected it. Seeing her wake up from a coma was like a miracle. I can’t describe how happy we felt,” Ibreeq said. The patient was then moved to Amana Healthcare Medical and Rehabilitation Hospital in Abu Dhabi to help her gradually build up her strength to walk and eat independently again.

El Baytam has since recovered well and has returned to Beirut early last month. She is now living a normal life and with no lasting symptoms. Ibreeq credited the hospital care for her grandmother’s recovery.

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“The care we saw first at Cleveland and then at Amana and the health centres here is like nothing we have seen before,” said Ibreeq.

“My grandmother was constantly being monitored and at no point was she left on her own,” she added.

Ibreeq said they have into several services but “never anything like we saw here in the UAE.” She said her grandmother is a proof that “COVID-19 need have nothing to do with age.”

Dr. John Engsig, lead doctor at Amana, said El Baytam received intensive rehabilitation therapy for almost six months.

“We always had hope but her recovery was remarkable given her age. It required tremendous team effort – but it wasn’t just the team, it was also Ms El Baytam’s willpower and efforts to improve,” Dr. Engsig said.

The doctor narrated that El Baytam was bed-bound, barely conscious, breathing with the help of a ventilator and being fed through a gastric tube. Dr Engsig said her recovery was a testament that being old is not a reason for someone not to recover from COVID.

“All the odds were against her, but she impressed the entire team. It is remarkable,” he said.

El Baytem’s hospitalization was not covered by the family’s insurance but she was not charged for any of the healthcare she received. It was learned that treatment was completely covered by the government. (CC)