California Man Loses His Fingers Following Two-Month Battle With COVID-19

A 54-year-old man from California beat the odds and survived a lengthy battle with COVID-19, but it came at a cost. Gregg Garfield was one of the first U.S. patients with the coronavirus. He contracted it February while on a skiing trip in Italy as the global pandemic was in its early stages. All 13 people on the trip tested positive, but only four required hospitalization.

A few days after returning home, Garfield was taken to Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, where he became the hospital's first coronavirus patient. His condition quickly deteriorated, and he was put on a ventilator just two days later.

Garfield suffered numerous complications during his time on the ventilator, including kidney failure, sepsis, pulmonary embolisms, and burst lungs. Doctors gave him just a 1% chance of survival.

"Medically speaking, I should not be here," Garfield told KTLA.

He managed to survive and was taken off the ventilator after 31 days. He was far from recovered and would spend an additional 30 days in the hospital. All of those complications took a severe toll on Garfield, and he had to have his fingers amputated because the virus constricted his blood flow.

"COVID has effects on the endovascular bloodstream, so it actually affects the blood flow," Garfield's surgeon, Dr. David Kulber, said. "That's why some young people have had strokes, and that's why anticoagulation — putting patients on blood thinners — now has been a standard care for COVID patients."

Despite being released from the hospital, Garfield has a long road to recovery. He will need to undergo at least six surgeries to reconstruct his fingers and fit his hands for prosthetics.

Even once the surgeries are complete, Garfield knows he will never be the same and is warning people to take the coronavirus pandemic seriously.

"I've survived this. I'm doing fantastic," Garfield said. "However, take heed on this. My hands are never going to be the same. I don't have fingers anymore. This can happen to you."

Photo: Screengrab/KTLA-TV