By Gerri Miller
Staff Writer, Elmore Autauga News
Photos by Bob Ealum
Imagine being unconscious for two months during April and May and waking up to the harsh new world of COVID-19.
That was the case for Evelyn Cook, 70, an Autauga County resident who spent nearly three months in hospitals recuperating from the virus.
But with a lot of prayers, and support, and medical care, Cook is home!!!
This morning friends, family, community, and church members from Indian Grave Baptist Church in Billingsley lined County Road 24 with signs to say hello and let her know she is loved and was missed.
Cook works at Clanton Internal Medicine. On April 7th, she went to work after feeling bad for a few days She called her daughter, Carol Cook Carter, to tell her she didn’t feel like she could drive home. Carter, a Prattville attorney, was in court so she got someone to drive her home.
Only a few hours later, Cook became unable to breathe and Carter called one of the doctors Cook works with and asked him to listen to her breathe. He told Carter that her mother needed to go to the hospital immediately. Her family took her to St. Vincent’s Chilton Emergency Room in Clanton.
Her condition worsened and she was moved to St. Vincent’s Hospital Birmingham. On April 12th she was placed on a ventilator. She fell into a coma for six weeks. On April 20th, the family was told that they needed to make some end of life decisions for Cook as she was not expected to live.
Cook had lupus, an underlying condition that made COVID-19 risker for her along with her age. Miraculously, she awoke from the coma and has only gotten stronger.
Carter said it is nothing short of a miracle that her mother is alive. She said the family feels blessed because there are a lot of people not as old as her mother nor with her preexisting conditions who didn’t live through the virus. “It just wasn’t her time right now,” Carter said.
Cook said she felt like a little like Sleeping Beauty when she woke up from her coma. She didn’t understand why her family was not there at her side.
“She got upset when she realized that she had been in a coma for almost two months,” Carter said. “Because we weren’t there, she thought we had put her in a nursing home.”
“We had to explain the Stay-at-Home orders,” Carter said. “It’s odd enough for us to go through it but when you try to catch someone up who has been in a coma since April, it sounds like science fiction.”
“She missed Easter, her 52nd wedding anniversary, her birthday and Mother’s Day, “Carter said.
Cook would travel to four different hospitals before her treatment ended in Encompass Health Rehabilitation in Pelham. Once she was moved to Encompass, she was able to talk to her family by phone looking through a plexiglass window. “We felt like we were talking to her in a prison,” Carter joked.
Cook said her best therapy of all was getting to go home today.
“Just getting home made me feel at least 150 percent better,” she said. And she won’t be alone. She has her husband George to help, her children, grandchildren, and sisters, as well as some hired help. Her church-Indian Grave Baptist- will provide meals for the next few weeks.
Carter said the family will have masks available at the door for anyone who wants to visit. “We are going to take precautions, but we are still going to live our lives,” she said. “We are doing what we know is right today-but of course that could change tomorrow.”
Cook said it makes her smile that she has a grocery bag full of cards from well-wishers, including drawings local children created for her. She said her neighbors and family are precious to her.
“So many things have happened, but I can’t wait to see what the next few weeks bring,” Cook said. “They say what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger.”
