Left: In April 2020 Debbie Kosta was on a ventilator for almost a month. Right: I m pushing through this COVID long-hauler disease by biking each day, says Kosta. Going from learning how to walk again to learning how to bike again took me a few months. Now I bike 24 miles up and down the Hudson. Image: Debbie Kosta; Agni Zotis
Updated July 17, 2021 at 7:38 PM ET
Debbie Kosta almost didn t survive COVID-19. In the early days of the pandemic, the 52-year-old was kept on a ventilator for over three weeks.
When she emerged from a coma and learned that she would pull through while another person in the hospital with her had died, Kosta was racked with guilt. She found herself asking, Why me?