EXCLUSIVE: KEZI Speaks with Lane County's 25th positive COVID case

EXCLUSIVE: KEZI Speaks with Lane County's 25th positive COVID case

Officer wants people to know... just how terrifying covid can be.

Jim green is "case number 25" out of more than 3- thousand in lane county.

He explained to kezi 9 news reporter emma jerome today... why he's lucky to be alive.

"he was so sick he doesn't remember going to the emergency room" it was the end of march and jim green had just returned from a work trip to jamaica "had i worn a mask, could i have avoided all this?"

Because during this time no one was wearing masks -- it was advised to reserve them for health care workers but who could have guessed what would happen a week later he started getting symptoms im: " i would have laid in bed oblivious to what was going on, but laurie had the common sense to call my primary and it was quickly decided that i needed to get to the emergency room" jim: " she got me admitted -- and within an hour in the er -- my lungs failed" laurie: "so he went from being very sick to critically ill within less than 2 hours" 6 days on a ventilator -- 6 more in an isolation unit "in 2 weeks he lost 36 pounds" emma jerome: " green was case number 25 in lane county..

We now have well over 3000 cases and with that growth increase came a growth of an increase in knowledge... knowledge he wishes he'd hada 9 months ago... and knowledge he wanted to share today" the road to recovery was a long one!

"the weight loss had taken a great deal of my strength" "i can't say enough about the doctors and i can't say enough about the nurses -- i wish i had the opportunity to thank them" but they both say they know it's not about them anymore -- it's about sharing what they've gone through first hand and hoping people listen :"every time i read about someone whose passed away in our county from covid 19, my heart breaks for their family because i know their family and friends haven't been able to be there for that person and hopefully they had a chance to say goodbye, but they may not have" even with all we've learned -- there is still so much about this virus we don't know "what the future holds... i don't know it's a guess" in eugene emma jerome kezi