After five months in the hospital battling COVID-19, county teacher Mark Holman got to go home last week.
When Holman, 47, a teacher for the Herculaneum High School Alternative Education Program, left Mercy Hospital Jefferson in Crystal City at about 1 p.m. May 12, a crowd of about 20 family and friends were there cheering him as he came out of the main entrance in a wheelchair.
He was first hospitalized on Dec. 12, 2021, at Missouri Baptist Hospital in St. Louis County, before his transfer to Mercy Hospital Jefferson in February.
Holman of Desloge said he had repeated close calls with death during his hospitalization, and it’s a miracle he survived.
“My whole existence now is one miracle after another,” he said.
His parents, Jerry and Vicki Holman of Barnhart, said they felt the Lord’s hand pulling their son through the deadly disease.
“We didn’t know we’d come to see this day,” Jerry Holman said.
“The medical care at Missouri Baptist and (Mercy Jefferson) was phenomenal,” Vicki Holman added.
While choked with emotion, Holman’s fiancee, Wendy Graham, said she’s thrilled about his recovery.
“I’m just glad he’s coming home,” she said.
Graham, who also contracted COVID in December, had to wait until February before she could visit her fiance at the hospital in person.
Jerry Holman said the family prayed together for his son while he was in the hospital. “We had a Zoom prayer meeting every night,” he said.
Holman’s sister, Stephanie Dix, principal of Herculaneum High School, announced the news about her brother’s release from the hospital on May 11 on Facebook, recounting his many trials and tribulations during his hospital stay.
She said he was intubated and on a ventilator, and he suffered kidney failure, heart trouble, infections and other serious health problems.
Dix also said her brother was released on his 152nd day in the hospital after originally being admitted with COVID pneumonia.
“He’s been very missed here,” she said. “As much as he is valued as a teacher, he also is involved in extracurricular activities as an announcer and clock worker at sports events. If there’s a home sporting event, Mark will be there.”
Dix said she is thrilled for Holman.
“I am so happy for my brother,” she said. “Very truly, Mark is a living, breathing miracle. Multiple times he had to be put on a ventilator and doctors said he wouldn’t make it.”
Holman said he could not believe he finally was getting to leave hospital care.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” he said. “I have neuropathy of the foot. I developed it as a result of COVID. It’s a dull ache that sticks with me. Beyond that, I feel pretty good.”
Holman said his weight dropped from 352 pounds to 282 pounds during his COVID battle.
“I still need recuperation,” he said. “I will have therapy for my foot. I also have a wound I developed from COVID that needs to be taken care of.”
He said his doctors told him he will remain on oxygen until his lungs are stronger. He also said he no longer has the heart problems nor most of the other problems he experienced during his battle with COVID.
“I’m doing pretty well,” he said Tuesday, May 17.
Now that he’s out of the hospital, Holman said he most looking forward to spending time with his fiancee and his family.
“Just being with my family full time,” he said.
Holman said he was not vaccinated against COVID-19, and he has not made up his mind about whether he will get one now.
“I have contemplated it. I just don’t know yet. In my opinion, I think each person must make his or her own decision (about COVID vaccinations),” he said.
Dix said her brother’s job is waiting for him when he is capable of returning to the job. This is his 24th year in teaching, all for the Dunklin R-5 School District.
Holman said he eagerly awaits getting back to teaching.
“I love my job. I love my kids. I love the people I work with,” he said.