Coronavirus Survivor: Brigham And Women's Nurse Gets Procession Home After Beating Virus
QUINCY (CBS) -- Debby Buonopane is an emergency room nurse at Brigham and Women's hospital. After she caught the coronavirus, she became a patient at her own hospital. But Thursday, she returned home triumphant.
To honor Buonopane, the Quincy Police Department, along with several other agencies on the South Shore, escorted her back to her home in Quincy as she was released from the hospital. She spent a week in the hospital fighting for her life.
"I can't breathe and I'm dependent on a nurse and a doctor and medication to help me breathe," she recalled. "It was really hard."
At 1 p.m., emergency personnel lined the streets, keeping their distance from her, as Buonopane could still be COVID-19-positive.
"Seeing her just makes me wanna hug her," said her son, Nick Buonopane. "I'm just gonna give it some time, let her heal up and go back to normal days."
Buonopane is also a breast cancer survivor, Navy veteran, single mom and volunteer first responder at the Boston Marathon.
She will be at home for a few weeks because she needs two negative tests before she can go back to work.
