To date, tens of thousands of people have recovered from COVID-19.
But we don’t often hear their stories.
One woman, however, has opened up about her fight with the virus to give glory to God.
One of the first deadly outbreaks of the new coronavirus began in Kirkland, Washington in late February.
Life Care Center, a suburban nursing home, was the epicenter of a COVID-19 flare-up. Many of the nursing home’s residents succumbed to the virus.
But one woman beat the virus—at 90 years old!
Geneva Wood was recovering from a stroke at Life Care Center in February. She was just a few days away from being discharged and going back home when the care facility transitioned to lockdown.
As the coronavirus spread to nearly two-thirds of the care center’s population, Wood could only wait and see if she would be affected as well.
Three days after the facility went into lockdown, Wood began experiencing symptoms of COVID-19. It started with “a spiking fever” and quickly worsened to respiratory difficulties.
“I didn’t know that I had the virus until I had the virus,” Wood said, reflecting on the sudden onset of her illness. “I had no symptoms of it before.”
Wood’s condition rapidly worsened, and she and many of the other residents were placed in isolation. Life Care Center’s staff worked hard to treat those affected by COVID-19, but their hopes weren’t high.
At one point, doctors even called Wood’s family to come in and say their goodbye, though they would only allow most of them to see and talk to Wood through a pane of glass.
Wood realized she was on her deathbed when her daughter, Cami Neidigh, came into her room in full personal protective gear “to hug her mom one last time.”
It was a heart-wrenching moment, and one that was bittersweet in many ways for Wood, a Christian.
As a believer, Wood knew that if she died she would be ushered directly into the presence of her Savior.
“I knew that I was leaving with peace,” she admitted. “I wanted [my family] to know that I loved them and enjoyed them.”
She was ready for the end of her life, but it was still difficult to bid farewell to her beloved family and leave them behind.
Not long after she said goodbye to her family, however, Wood started to recover. Her condition improved so much that the doctors at Life Care Center were baffled!
Only nineteen days after being diagnosed with COVID-19, Wood left the care facility completely healed and coronavirus-free.
Wood herself was amazed, since she hadn’t heard of anyone recovering from COVID-19, but she was quick to attribute her “miraculous” recovery to the power and grace of God.
“If it hadn’t been for my faith in God and my family and their prayers and all their families and the church and everything…the faith and prayers pulled me through,” Wood said.
She also admitted that her time in isolation—often an intensely lonely and discouraging experience for COVID-19 patients—was an opportunity to experience the goodness and the presence of God in a whole new way.
“I could feel God’s presence,” she said. “His hands were on my body and I could feel His presence and I’d wake up and I could feel these hands and I’d go back to sleep.”
“Through the night…I couldn’t see His face, but I could feel His hands and I knew He was with me and I made it through the night,” she added.
“Until you’ve felt God’s presence and His hands on you, it’s something else. If it hadn’t been for Him, I couldn’t have done it. And I wasn’t alone because He was with me all the time.”
Wood also remembered “one special doctor” who faithfully read Bible passages to her each day.
“At first all I said was Psalm 23, but he would read to me every morning,” Wood said. These were cherished moments of encouragement during the struggle of recovery.
Now fully recovered, Wood is sharing her story in hopes of pointing others to God.
“Don’t give up hope,” Wood encouraged others diagnosed with COVID-19. “God is always there…put your trust in Him and lean on Him and give your life to Him.”
“And you’ll make it, but you’ve got to not give up hope and fight.”
Praise God for His miraculous healing of Geneva Wood, and pray that He would continue to move mightily amidst the global pandemic!