NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — It's a battle so many Tennesseans know: COVID.
While ICUs now have fewer COVID cases in them, it may be easy to forget the weeks-long battles that patients have faced and now conquered.
But one former COVID patient and her nurse at Ascension Saint Thomas Hospital West have now become close friends.
Last August, at 32 weeks pregnant, Julia Waddell came down with COVID — they had to induce labor.
"I don't remember much. I have a memory of screaming and raising my hands. I asked the doctor why I did that. She said, 'You were coughing, you could not stop coughing,'" Waddell said.
Waddell gave birth to her daughter, named Sunday, but because of COVID, she couldn't see her for a month and a half.
Waddell's battle wasn't over. Doctors told her she had just a 27% chance of survival.
She thought of letting go.
"I remember thinking it. It was so awful. I thought, 'I choose death, I can't do it anymore,'" Waddell said.
One of Waddell's nurses was Macie Mosier, who looked Julia in the eyes and said, "when you can't fight, we fight for you."
"When Macie said that to me, it helped so much," Waddell said. "Don't fight today, Macie's going to fight for you. It helped me so much."
It was that determination, Waddell said that eventually led to her getting to reunite with her daughters last October, including her newborn.
Waddell and Mosier have become friends since her recovery. she even attended Mosier's recent wedding with Sunday in tow, thankful for not just a nurse doing a job, but someone who was called to be there at the right time.
