72-year-old COVID-19 survivor checks out of Adventist Health Castle

Posted: Jun 26, 2020 / 04:28 PM HST / Updated: Jun 30, 2020 / 10:04 AM HST

HONOLULU (KHON2) — After long three months, the team at Adventist Health Castle said aloha to a COVID-19 survivor on Friday afternoon, June 26.

With his wife by his side, 72-year-old Jack Denis checked out of the facility that cared for him for the past 88 days.

A retired Honolulu Fire Department captain, Denis was given a hero’s salute from fellow firefighters.
His primary physicians among those beyond thrilled and amazed to see him leave.

“I’ve been here all 88 days,” said Pulmonologist Dr. Takkin Lo. “I’ve never taken a day off, so I’ve been here every day taking care of him, seeing him, and he is just a miracle man. I’ve never seen anything like this out of any textbook I have learned.”

“He’s over 70,” said Intensivist Dr. Dan Bendtsen. “He came in and in severe condition. If he put it all into a calculator, his chance of survival would’ve been in the 10 to 20 percent range.”

“The first two months I couldn’t come and see him. So I relied on the doctors and nurses to be my eyes and ears,” said the patient’s wife Donna Denis. “They were nice enough to put the phone by his ear even though he was in a coma and I will talk to him and they would facetime which is hard to see him like that he told me later that he heard my voice.”

Even though Denis checked out of the hospital, his doctors say that he’s not ready to go home.

His next stop will be a rehabilitation center where he will continue his recovery and getting his strength back.

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