Woman who was Lincoln County’s first COVID-19 case recounts 10-week ordeal in Portland hospital

By MAX KIRKENDALL/Lincoln County News-Guard

Lincoln County’s first COVID-19 patient – and the first to be hospitalized – is back home after 10 weeks of treatment and recovery.

But Anne Fehringer-Williams, 65, of Gleneden Beach, who was placed on a ventilator and put into a coma during her treatment in Portland, has some cautionary advice for local residents.

As Oregon and much of the country begin reopening, Fehringer-Williams hopes her is a cautionary tale of how the illness impacts lives.

“I just don’t think we are ready for that yet,” Fehringer-Williams said about reopening. “It’s just too big of a chance to take. This virus just took the life right out of me. It was really serious. I didn’t realize until I was told that I spent three weeks in a coma.”

Lincoln County Public Health announced the county’s first COVID-19 case on March 24, saying only that it was a person over 55 who caught the illness somewhere in the community but was hospitalized outside the county.

Since then, the county has experienced 205 more cases – including 127 at a Newport seafood processor – and four hospitalizations.

Fehringer-Williams is the owner of Alder House Glass Blowing near Salishan and has lived in Lincoln County for more than 40 years. During the winter she closes the glass shop and typically takes a vacation. This year, she went to Mexico.

“I got down there and I felt pretty good the first couple of days, and then … not so much,” Fehringer-Williams said.

As cases of the coronavirus started to trickle into the United States, Fehringer-Williams said the virus wasn’t on her or her travel partners’ minds. After feeling a bit lethargic, she visited a local clinic where she received fluids, which re-energized her temporarily.

“I started going back down hill the next day,” Fehringer-Williams said. “We were to stay an extra few days afterwards, but that’s when all hell broke loose.”

Suspecting something serious, Fehringer-Williams was advised to head back to Oregon. As airlines began to close down during the early stages of the pandemic, Fehringer-Williams was able to fly home alone.

“I got wheeled on the plane and at that time, I still didn’t know I had COVID, I was just really, really tired. I don’t think I was making much sense when I talked. I could hardly walk,” she said. “My son picked me up in Portland and took me right to the hospital. He dropped me off and I don’t remember anything after that.”

Fehringer-Williams spent three weeks in coma

About two years ago, Fehringer-Williams was diagnosed with metastatic breast cancer, which has advanced to her brain. During her last check up a year ago, everything seemed normal.

But a new unknown virus caused great concern for the doctors at Providence Medical Center in Portland. Because of her underlying medical conditions, coupled with a confirmed positive test for COVID-19, doctors put Fehringer-Williams on a ventilator, and subsequently into an induced coma.

“They said it was touch and go … 48 hours were going to make or break me,” she said. After three weeks in a coma, Fehringer-Williams awoke and was told she had beat the coronavirus.

She was transferred from intensive care to a regular hospital unit but still felt the effects of the virus.

“I couldn’t even walk, I couldn’t talk at all. I was just a mess,” Fehringer-Williams said. “My muscles had atrophied and the virus really did a tap dance on my muscles. I now have to use a walker.”

She spent several more weeks in the hospital, and then was transferred to a rehabilitation unit where she would rebuild her strength. On June 1, after a 10-week battle, Fehringer-Williams was given the green light to head back home.

What was her reaction to the news?

“I just thought, YAY!” Fehringer-Williams said. “I was inpatient because I knew that I could do it, but they didn’t know if I should do it.

“I’m feeling better, but I’m not back to my normal self. I don’t know if I ever will be, but I’m getting there.”

For the past week, Fehringer-Williams has had the company of family helping her adjust to life back at home.

Thinking back, she said she’s not really sure where she could have contracted the virus, but suspects she likely had it before leaving for Mexico.

Oddly enough, Fehringer-Williams was the only one on the trip or in her family to contract COVID-19.

“It’s a very horrible virus and yet some people have it and come out fine,” she said. “I’m not a doctor and I can’t really say why it affects some of us, and I don’t know if (doctors) truly understand it either.”

This story is published on YachatsNews.com with permission of the Lincoln County News-Guard. Max Kirkendall can be reached at newsguardeditor@countrymedia.net