Man returns home after 7-month battle with COVID-19

HANAHAN S.C. (WCSC) - This week, one Lowcountry man is home for the first time in more than seven months after nearly losing his life to the coronavirus.

After coming down with COVID-19 in September, Warner Cooke was checked into Roper Saint Francis Hospital for the fight of his life.

“They said I had less than 1 percent chance of surviving,” Cooke said. “But the Lord had other plans.”

In the hospital, Cooke said his organs started to shut down, he was put on a ventilator and his heart even stopped at one point.

“We trust in God and he will work a miracle because he worked a miracle in my life,” Cooke said.

Missing holidays and months away, he and family said they relied on faith to carry them through the darkest moments COVID-19 brought.

“It was it was a lot going on,” daughter Angela Cooke said. “I think we got brought in or called us about three or four times to say that he wasn’t going to make it.”

“It seemed like that pressure, that pressure was on for us to give up,” sister Jean Clark said. “We pressed back, we pressed harder, we prayed harder.”

Doctors, nurses and staff gave Cooke a standing ovation as he left the hospital Wednesday. Now at home, he’s readjusting to life and learning to walk again.

“It’s hard for me to describe it seems like, was it really real?” Cook said. “I just feel overjoyed. I’m still adjusting to this. I’m not used to being home.”

Now, he and his loved ones say they’re advocating for others to protect their families by getting vaccinated and wearing masks.

“It is just so essential that everyone gets vaccinated. I’m just a strong believer in that,” Clark said.

They now relish the little moments, no matter how mundane.

“To love and don’t take it for granted because we don’t know when somebody can’t talk to y’all, how long they’re going to be around you,” wife Dorothy Cooke said.

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