Polk County man turns to music to help wife recover from COVID-19
LAKELAND, Fla. - Charlie and Christie White have been married for 33 years.
In mid-October, Christie was hospitalized after testing positive for COVID-19. Within days her condition worsened. Doctors put her on a ventilator, placed her under sedition and flew her via helicopter to a hospital in Orlando where she had to stay for two weeks without any visitors.
"We love each other. We're always supportive of one another," White said. "Imagine seeing someone and spending time with them and then all of the sudden they're taken from you. It was hard to get someone to call me. I'm like what's going. So I begin praying."
White was unable to visit so he coordinated with her nurses to do a Facetime call so he could sing to her. White made sure to pick special songs like the one he wrote for their anniversary.
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"You could tell she was listening. It was connecting with her. Music is a connection and can sometimes say more than what we can verbalize so it was just really awesome to see her taking that in," White said.
After a few days later, Christie's condition improved. This past weekend she was sent back to Lakeland Regional Hospital and able to see her husband for the first time.
White posted the Facetime videos to YouTube and they got the attention of people from all over the world.
"We've had people all over the world praying for her and it's just amazing to see people coming together. People I don't even know asking about her. It's made me excited because I know very soon she's going to be home with me," White said.
White says his wife is no longer testing positive for COVID-19, but doctors continue to closely monitor her. He says they're hoping she can come home this weekend.
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