EDINBURG — Pepe Forina slowly wheeled himself into the rehab gym here at DHR Health Rehabilitation Hospital before coming to a stop near the entrance.
He appeared to struggle for a moment.
“I need some help here,” the Alamo resident said to the two occupational therapists shadowing him.
“Take your time,” Julian Salinas said, encouragingly.
After catching his breath, Forina slowly but surely rolled his wheelchair toward one of the two large therapy mats before making a U-turn and backing up toward a wall.
Soon after the therapists approached him with a hoyer lift. Forina was secured with a sling, and slowly lifted from his wheelchair onto one of the therapy mats. His legs hung down as he descended onto the mat, but just below his knee were large bandages where his feet used to be — amputated as a result of complications from COVID-19.
The therapists help him do various exercises in order to make sure that he maintains his strength in his residual limbs so that after his wounds have healed and he is fitted for prosthetic legs, he will be able to walk again on his own.
“At this point, we’re shooting for being able to get him to a point where he can be at home,” Salinas said. “He’s required 24-hour nursing care for a while since his admission here — requiring in essence bathing, dressing and going to the bathroom, all of those things. What we’re shooting for primarily is for him to be able to get up from the bed on his own, transition to the wheelchair on his own, transition to the bathroom on his own mostly under his own power as opposed to us doing most of the work.”
Forina was initially admitted into the hospital on July 26 after his issues with the virus grew more severe.
“I knew that I had COVID already because I had already tested positive,” Forina said.
He said that he had chosen not to get the COVID-19 vaccine despite pleas from his wife and daughter, who did get the vaccine. When asked about why he chose not to get the vaccine, his response was simple and to the point: “Stupidity.”
“Stupidity, basically because I didn’t believe in it,” Forina said. “I didn’t believe that a vaccine … I just didn’t want to get it done.”
It was a decision that he now says he regrets making.
“I’m elated to be here, alive, and speaking to you guys right now about the ordeal I’ve gone through,” he continued. “It is a life-changing experience. I have to learn — basically I’m a toddler again. I have to learn to do things that everybody takes for granted. With this help of the physical therapy team, Ivan and Julian, the doctors here at DHR, the surgeons, the nurses, the CNAs; I owe them my life.”
Forina’s ordeal took a turn on Aug. 9, just one day after a doctor had informed his wife that he was showing signs of improvement. She received a call a day later informing her that there was a chance that he would not make it through the night. His situation was so dire that the last rites were performed on him.
“One of the things that kept me going was my faith. Another thing was the love of my family,” Forina said. “I was overwhelmed with the compassion I got from strangers. People I don’t even know were sending me prayers.”
Miraculously, he began to show signs of improvement, but it came at the expense of his feet.
“Well, it was either amputate my feet and live, or leave them on and die,” Forina said. “It was a no brainer. When they took me out of the COVID unit and put me in the ICU at the regular hospital, I looked at my feet and my feet were black. That’s when I knew that there was something wrong. Basically, I had developed sepsis, and that’s when I realized that the best thing to do is to get the amputation.”
His operation took place on Sep. 7, and despite the hardships faced along the way, Forina’s family consider him to be a miracle.
Speaking generally, Dr. Federico Vallejo of DHR said that amputations as a result of COVID-19 are a rare yet a very possible reality with patients who may suffer from diabetes and high blood pressure. He said that 15% of patients with COVID-19 develop blood clots that can cut circulation to certain organs and body parts.
Despite Forina’s trials and tribulations, he and his family are thankful to have more time together.
“It’s a complete change,” Forina’s wife, Margarita, said. “You go from one minute, one day facing losing him, and yet here we are. He’s here, and he’s going to make it. So we’re in a better place than we were three weeks ago.”
“I have my son, and he’s back,” his mother, Maria Elena Forina said. “He doesn’t have his feet, but he’s more than feet. That’s not important. He can have prosthetics and regain his normal life. But he’s here. That’s what’s important. He is a true miracle. I had already given him back to God because I thought he was going to die. And he’s there. He’s a miracle.”
When asked about his decision to not receive the COVID-19 vaccine, Forina said he believes that everyone should make their own decisions.
“It’s a choice,” Forina said. “I’m not going to push it on anybody that you need to get vaccinated. There’s still people out there that don’t want to get it done, so I’m not going to push it on any of you guys if you’re not vaccinated and tell you you have to do it. It’s a choice — a choice that I made poorly. Learn from me, and hopefully you won’t be in the same situation I’m in.”
“I got this,” he added later after completing part of his daily rehabilitation. “I’ll beat this. I’m Forina strong.”
