Listen to an audio version of the story.
Lakeland resident Richard DeFreese has had asthma since childhood. Later in life, he also developed a chronic lung disease commonly known as COPD.
“I can’t run 30 feet. If I do, I’m bent over sucking in air,” says the 75-year-old retiree. “So that’s what it does, it just incapacitates your lungs.”
That’s why he worried so much about catching the coronavirus. But, despite taking advisable precautions, DeFreese and his wife contracted the virus earlier this month.
Given his medical conditions, DeFreese found himself in the hospital the same day he tested positive. But not for a stay. Rather, to receive an experimental treatment that has shown promise as a first line of defense to help prevent those with mild to moderate symptoms from developing more severe ones.