After more than a year in the hospital, Jazmin Kirkland is going home.
It was on a family vacation last summer that Kirkland and her husband, Kody, got sick with COVID-19. They drove home to Trenton where Kody got better, but Jazmin got worse.
Days later, on Aug. 3, 2021, they drove to Texoma Medical Center in Denison.
“I got there and I could barely walk into the hospital,” said Kirkland.
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Within two weeks, she was placed on a ventilator in a coma, then on an ECMO machine used only in critical situations.
“I don't care if I wake up and I don't have an arm or leg. As long as I'm here and I'm able to be with my kids just please let me live,” Jazmin recalled.
Over the last year, Jazmin had to relearn to eat and walk.
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Her journey was documented on social media to give other families in similar situations hope. She credited her survival to doctors, a powerful will to live, and prayer.
“Even if it’s just one person that can find her story to say like, hey, someone overcame this to give them hope that they can do it too then that's what I was hoping others would take away from this as well,” said Kody Kirkland.
After six months on an ECMO machine, more than 10 months on a ventilator and more than 12 months in the hospital, Jazmin Kirkland is on the verge of another milestone: Going home.
“I'm so thankful,” she said.
She’ll still need oxygen once she's released. The couple said they had not yet been vaccinated when they became sick.