North Texas mom goes home after 370 days in the hospital with COVID-19

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Jazmin Kirkland, a North Texas mom of three, spent more than a year in the hospital after being diagnosed with COVID-19. (Jazmin Kirkland)

DALLAS - A North Texas mom of three is finally going home after spending more than a year in the hospital because of COVID-19.

Jazmin Kirkland was hospitalized on Aug. 3, 2021. A few days later she was placed on a ventilator and a month after that needed ECMO treatments because the virus had attacked her heart and lungs.

She never dreamed her diagnosis would result in 370 days away from her 2, 7 and 10-year-old children. 

"I am most looking forward to spending time at home with the kids, watching them play and grow. I have missed them like crazy! They have been able to visit me often but there’s just no place like home to be with them," she said.

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Jazmin Kirkland said she is looking forward to being home with her three children, ages 2, 7 and 10. (Jazmin Kirkland)

And there were several moments during her hospitalization when it didn’t look like she’d ever go home.

"The toughest part of the whole journey was being rejected for lung transplant candidacy due to high levels of antibodies making it nearly impossible to match a potential donor.  At the time we thought a lung transplant was the only way forward to survive," she said.

But Kirkland said she never gave up. She and her family tried to celebrate every victory, no matter how small.

"I have met so many amazing people along the way. I’ve had the privilege to get to know so many nurses, respiratory therapists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, speech therapists, and doctors, many of whom I have become close friends with. I know if it wasn’t for the push and care they showed me I would not be here and doing as well as I am," she said.

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Kirkland said she still hasn’t fully recovered but thinks over time she will get there. 

She said she knows she is still on this Earth for a reason.

"I want to find the reason God kept me here and find my purpose. There is a reason I am here, for some purpose, and I want to know why that is. I have become more purposeful and appreciative. I never knew how much I was loved and shown such generosity by so many around me and really all over! I feel gratitude for everything that has been done for me and given me this second chance," she said.