Survival Story: Nurse Leaves Long Beach Hospital After 8 Months as COVID-19 Patient

LONG BEACH, California (KABC): It was a day a local nurse thought would never come.

After approaching death several times during eight months of coronavirus treatment, Merlin Pambuan was finally released from the hospital on Monday.

Pambuan was not only a patient at St. John’s Medical Center. Mary of Long Beach, but had worked there as a nurse for 40 years.

Doctors say he died several times and underwent painful physical therapy only to be able to stand up again, but he succeeded.

Hospital staff cheered as he finally made his way home.

I had advice for other patients struggling with COVID-19: “Fight. Fight. Because look at me: I’m going home and I’m walking.”