Educator recovering after hospitalized in Fort Bend County with COVID-19

FT. BEND COUNTY, Texas (KTRK) — The Gonzalez siblings may live states away, but they stay in close contact, so when one of them starting getting sick with COVID-19, the other was quick to notice it.

As Tim and Rachel Gonzalez spoke on the phone, he noticed something wasn’t right with her and she had been feeling sick and things progressed.

“She works in the administration part of the school with special ed and her fiancé works with special ed,” said Tim. “Every day I was on the phone with her, and it was just sad to see she couldn’t breathe. She was helpless.”

That was earlier this month. Soon after she went to a hospital in Sugar Land where she stayed for six days.

“She was there for six grueling days. She ended up on oxygen, on antibiotics because they found a bacterial infection in her lungs. She said swallowing was like swallowing glass,” said Tim.

As Rachel was in the hospital, Fort Bend County was seeing an uptick in COVID patients, which make up 66 percent of ICU beds in Fort Bend County and it’s been as high as nearly 70 percent.

As for Rachel, she got out of the hospital six days ago. She is still recovering from the effects of COVID-19.

“Now she’s undergoing oxygen treatments at home, still under quarantine. We hope that she recovers fully. We hope that her lungs go back to 100 percent,” said Tim.

With more healing, comes more costs. Her brother has started a fund to help with expenses.

He said he just hopes everyone does their part to stop the spread.