33-year-old spends three months in hospital, loses leg due to COVID-19

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    CINCINNATI (WLWT) — A message of resilience and the long-term battle with COVID-19 facing some Greater Cincinnati victims.

A previously healthy father of four is still in the hospital three months after contracting the virus.

He was originally taken in with chest pains, but that was just the beginning of weeks of health scares.

Rashod Lindsey, 33, sits in a hospital bed reflecting on the many ways COVID changed his life.

“You don’t understand how serious the case is until you actually go through it or somebody close to you goes through it,” he said.

Lindsey nearly didn’t make it to this day.

He remembered being admitted to the hospital in January.

He woke up two weeks later to learn he had coded twice.

“My heart was failing and things like that. I was on the ECMO machine. I was going through dialysis and I was fighting for my life on life support,” he said.

While doctors were trying to save his life, they couldn’t save his right leg.

It was amputated from the hip down due to complications.

“My first reaction was I couldn’t believe it. I had to feel my leg. I was like this can’t be true. From there on, I just made up my mind that I was going to fight and keep fighting,” he said.

Perhaps most remarkable about his story is his attitude.

“Man, I feel great. I can hop on this one leg. That old leg, that’s old news. You talk about a new leg. Can’t beat that,” he said.

His mother said the experience was heart-wrenching and devastating, but Rashod’s smile and positivity has made it easier.

“It just makes me so thankful that we still have him. I’m proud of him. I’m proud that he’s such a fighter,” said Bridgett Boyd.

His sister, who works at the facility where he’s no going through rehab, called him a miracle and an inspiration.

“Life ain’t easy all the time,” he said. “Sometimes you’re going to face challenges, but it’s up to you to take on those challenges and face them.”

Lindsey said he gets fitted for a prosthetic soon and as he recovers he will continue to share his story through his nonprofit, Chance 2 Change.

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