CHESAPEAKE, Va. - Leroy Ellsworth struggled to breathe for days as he laid in his hospital bed at Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital.
"Lord, I don't want to die. I got so much to live for,” Ellsworth said in video that he recorded.
He is a father of seven. His youngest, Adrianna, is 4 years old. He says she and her siblings motivated him to keep going while he was battling COVID-19.
After testing positive for the virus, doctors informed him that he had pneumonia in both of his lungs.
"My inability to breathe - just gasping for breaths and the weakness I had - I went through something I've never had before,” Ellsworth adds.
So, that's when he started document his journey. Doctors put him on a machine to help open up his lungs when he couldn’t do it on his own.
"I looked at it like, 'I may not make it out of here it's that real,'" the 41-year-old said.
He says hearing and seeing people die from the virus while in the hospital took a toll on him.
"Mentally and psychologically, it does a lot to you."
Ellsworth beat the virus and wants others to know that they can, too.
"People need hope. People need inspiration,” he said.
He also says people shouldn't take life for granted.
“I take a deep breath every day, multiple times throughout the day because I appreciate what it means just to breathe,” he adds.
