While hundreds have died from the coronavirus in Indiana, thousands are on the road to recovering from the disease.
Mike Atwell is one of those survivors.
Thousands are on the road to recovering from the disease.
News 18's anna darling talked with a lafayette man who is one of those survivors.
"i really didn't want to believe it" mike atwell didn't want to believe that he had contracted the novel coronavirus.
"i started having showing symptoms on march 22nd.
I didn't have any chest congestion, i just had a fever.
I thought it was the flu" but that changed one week later.
"then the chest, shortness of breath kicked in.
There was some blood that i was coughing up and that's when he said you have to go to the er" he went to iu health arnett where doctors found pneumonia in both his lungs and a lack of oxygen in his body.
That's when he was admitted into the hospital.
The next day, the doctors told him he had the disease.
"i really felt like that was the end.
The first two weeks were hell really" but he began to recover after extensive treatment.
He got to go home after a week in the hospital.
However things didn't get any easier for his family.
"my son also tested positive.
He was having fever and not so much shortness of breath but like a real bad cough, and he's nineteen."
He says he and his son were among the first 20 cases diagnosed in tippecanoe county.
"i was like whoa how did that happen" atwell says they have no idea how they contracted the disease, but now their focus is on getting healthy again.
"i still feel like i'm getting over a bad cold.
The doctor said to quarantine for 7 to 14 days and to take it very seriously" he hopes that by sharing his story, it might save others.
"i know that the outcome could have been a lot different.
I'm so grateful to the folks at iu health who took really good care of me" anna darling news 18 atwell says they have another week left in quarantine.
You can read more about his road to recovery on our our website wlfi.com
A Crawfordsville man is thanking Lafayette Fransican nurses for taking care of him while he battled COVID-19.
