Coronavirus in Ohio

COLUMBUS (WCMH) – Cheers and a warm welcome home for a central Ohio husband and father of four who, for the first time this year, will sleep in his own home.

Rojo Garcia’s daughters said that near the end of last year, their dad started showing symptoms of COVID-19.

Doctors admitted him to the hospital on New Year’s Day. He spent time on a ventilator, even suffering a small stroke.

Now, a moment frozen in time…Rojo Garcia leaving the hospital Wednesday after a 124-day stay for COVID-19.

“I was so cautious driving,” said Yasmin Garcia, 21. “It was so exciting because I know all my family and neighbors were waiting for us.”

“I was the one that would even receive the calls from the hospital telling me updates with my dad,” Yasmin Garcia continued. “Like, at 3 in the morning, they would call me to say, ‘Dad’s heart might stop’ and then I would have to wake up my mom and tell her that.”

“It was sad because he wasn’t here with us and seeing him coming home, my sister driving, I was just so excited,” said Gladys Garcia, 16. “Me and my younger brothers were not allowed to go visit him at the hospital, so seeing him for the first time after four months it feels, I don’t know, it feels great.”

“When he was first hospitalized on the first of January, I thought maybe a couple of days or something,” Yasmin Garcia said.

Both sisters said they have a better sense of what family means and what it means to care for other people.

“Yeah, for sure, because we both didn’t know this was happening,” Gladys Garcia said. “We didn’t expect it happen to our family, going through, this it opened our minds like…”

“Value our time well,” Yasmin Garcia said.

“Value our time more,” Gladys Garcia agreed. “This virus is a real thing and it’s affected so many families, their loved ones.”

“Never lose faith,” Yasmin Garcia said. “We believed in God every step of the way, even when they told us, ‘Your dad is probably not going to make it.’ We were, like, ‘No, he’s going to make it’ and we kept praying and now he’s here.”

Yasmin Garcia is a business student at Columbus State University. She, along with her mother, have been running her father’s lawn care business.

Mr. Garcia doesn’t have medical insurance. Friends have started a GoFundMe page to help with his medical bills.