COLUMBUS, Ohio - It started as a fun movie night with friends.
But a couple of those friends were Columbus nurses, and they discovered they had the coronavirus. Before long, the virus had spread to eight Coriell family members.
But Kyle Coriell, pastor at Kingdom Hearts Church in Chillicothe, had it the worst.
"I’ve just never experienced anything like this and for that long a period of time," he said. "I’ve had the flu, I’ve had the cold, and I’ve had food poisoning, I’ve had strep throat, which is very painful as an adult, but nothing like this, I just, it was just terrible, the worst two weeks of my life by far."
That was in early April. By the 11th day, Coriell says he was near death.
His mother, who is a respiratory therapist, had been checking on him. She was encouraging him to go to the hospital. But he kept putting it off, saying he just kept hoping he would improve.
"I’m the type of person who just does not like to go to the hospital," he said. "I have to have a bone sticking out, they can’t stop the bleeding, that’s the only way I’ll go to the hospital and just always have been like that. I was doing everything I could not to go, and (my mom) again told me I needed to go."
So Coriell went to Grant Medical Center for help. But he says the doctor was only able to offer up bad news. His oxygen levels were dangerously low, and he said the doctor told him there was really nothing more he could do to help.
"That just devastated me because I was there because this thing had me down on the ground, it was choking me, it was choking the life out of me, and I was there, someone that does not like hospitals, I was there as a last resort, hoping and believing that they could give me something to help me overcome this because my body wasn’t beating this, my body was losing this battle, and that’s what got me kind of scared," he said.
Coriell said he was both scared and angry, and so he started to pray, asking for strength to fight. He believes it worked because his oxygen levels rose enough to allow him to be released to recover at home.
"Right then and there, I knew that God was listening to my prayers, he was aware of what was going on in my life and everything was going to be okay," he said. "I just knew from that point forward."
And Coriell said, when he left the hospital, the worst of it was over. And that was an incredible relief to his wife Lynette, who feared the worst. She had the virus as well but had only mild symptoms.
"He was going downhill fast, and I knew that, if God didn’t touch him, I knew that he was going to his other home," she said. "I was scared at the point that I was like, what if he doesn’t make it, what am I going to do, here’s the church, my family. I said, oh no, no, I had to grab onto hope, and that is when I said, I can’t fight this for you, but I can fight with you, you’ve got to fight."
A few weeks later, Kyle Coriell was back behind the pulpit, sharing his story of hope and survival.
"I’m back to work, back to preaching, doing the things I love to do, and all because of God," he said. "It was all because of Him, all because my brothers and sisters in Christ who prayed for me and lifted me up in a time I needed lifted up, and I thank them all for that, I love them all for that."
Both husband and wife praise their church family and the support they received, both near and far, including greeting cards, flowers and pizza. And enough donations poured into the church to replace the roof and to start to replace the carpet.
"Never, ever, ever give up, never lose hope, always have faith, no matter what it seems like," Lynette Coriell said. "And, in this journey, I hope that someday I can always stay as strong as the people that was there for us and my family."