LANCASTER, Pa. — It is a record that no one wanted to set.
Nick Barakos spent five weeks on a ventilator, battling Covid-19 at WellSpan Ephrata Community Hospital last spring. It was the longest time a patient spent on a ventilator in that hospital and lived to tell the tale.
“The first night I was in there, they tried to put the vent in me...to help me breathe," Barakos remembers, "I didn't like it at all and I pulled it off. You could see the little bit of panic in their eyes, the doctors and nurses.”
Barakos, owner of Kyma Seafood & Johnny's Bar and Steakhouse in Lancaster County, lost 60 pounds and had to relearn how to walk after the intense weeks of illness.
However, he says he's grateful for what the experience brought him and his community.
“Customers, you know, were on the fence of getting the vaccine. They heard about me being attacked by this virus pretty bad, and they said, 'well Nick is very healthy. If Nick gets sick, maybe we should get the vaccine?'" Barakos noted.
"So a lot of people got the vaccine after they heard about me, so that's a good thing that happened."
Overwhelmed with appreciation for the care he received from his ICU nurses at WellSpan, he donated $10,000 as a token of his appreciation gratitude which will be used to renovate the staff lounge at the hospital.
"I felt it’s the right thing to do...they did so much for me...I feel tremendous gratitude to the nurses and the doctors."
On the road to recovery, Barakos notes he's "eighty-percent" back to his normal self, but overall, he's grateful to have been given this new outlook after a life-altering ordeal.
"I feel really good. It's like, I got a second chance at life."