Too weak to move in his Lexington, Kentucky hospital bed or even pick up his cellphone to call his family, Dennis Campbell came to a stark, dark realization.

“I was prepared to die,” he said.

The 48-year-old father of three from Richmond, Kentucky said he had no doubt that he had  reached the end of life.

“I was just praying to God and saying that if it is my time, then it’s my time. If not, then use me for something (good),” Campbell said. “I came to grips with it. If it was my time, then it was my time. There’s nothing that I control. My only wish was that I wanted to be able to talk to my family.”

But Campbell didn’t die in that hospital bed. In fact, just a few days later, he was home with his family.

Treatment with hydroxychloroquine, the somewhat controversial medicine which is usually used to treat malaria, but has not yet been approved by the FDA to treat COVID-19 — had a stunning impact on Campbell almost immediately.

“He called and said that he thought he was going to be able to come home,” said Deborah Campbell, Dennis’ wife. “And I was just like, ‘What? Really?'”

Campbell came home on April 1 — four days after he tested positive for the COVID-19 virus.

He remains quarantined at his home in Madison County along with the rest of the family. They will remain isolated for at least another week.

“He’s done great,” Deborah said. “He’s on his way to a full recovery. He’s not on oxygen.”

Recovery stunning.

Dennis, who coaches middle school girls basketball and softball, said he started to feek ill as early as March 19.

“Every day, he had more and more symptoms,” Deborah Campbell said. “He had aches and chills. He was sweating. He had a low-grade fever, then he started vomiting and had stomach pain.”

Things kept getting worse, despite an appointment with his primary doctor.

On March 26, Dennis was weak, sick and almost delirious when he arrived at St. Joseph Hospital in Berea, Kentucky.

“He was trying to tell me stuff and he couldn’t put together sentences,” Deborah said. “He was out of breath.”

“I couldn’t even think straight,” Dennis said.

A nurse examined Dennis in the parking lot and he was taken inside. Deborah was not allowed to go into the hospital with her husband.

“She wheeled him away and I parked the car, then I cried,” said Deborah, an elementary school teacher. “It was horrible. I couldn’t help him. It was hard.”

Dennis was tested for COVID-19. The result sent a shockwave through the family.

“I hit the floor and started to pray and just asked for God to protect him,” Deborah said.

After the diagnosis, the decision was made to move Dennis to a bigger hospital.

“We wanted him close to a pulmonologist,” Deborah said. “The doctors and staff at Berea were great.”

Dennis remained stable after arriving at St. Joseph’s in Lexington.

His condition, though, wasn’t improving.

“I was so weak I couldn’t even hold on to my phone at certain points,” Dennis said.

And not being able to talk to her husband took a huge emotional and mental toll on Deborah.

“There were times he wouldn’t answer my texts and wouldn’t answer my calls,” she said. “Sometimes, I wouldn’t hear from him for 12 hours.”

In those hours, Dennis started to believe that he might never hear from his family ever again.

“It was bad. I was on oxygen and they were contemplating putting me on a ventilator,” Dennis said.

“It was really scary from there on out,” Deborah said.

At one point, Dennis was taking in seven liters of oxygen a minute through tubes in his nose.

The doctors then offered the hydroxychloroquine treatment.

“I heard about it and I thought, ‘What is it going to hurt? I’m probably not going to be here much longer,'” Dennis said.

“It seemed like as soon as I took that medicine, it really helped me,” Dennis said. “It turned everything around. Thank God they had it.”

Community support

The drug, a deep faith conviction and the support of family and friends are the things the Campbells credit with the remarkable recovery.

The family attends Red House Baptist Church in Richmond. The outpouring of affection from the congregation was overwhelming.

A prayer chain was formed and Deborah was sent bible passage from members that kept her spirits high at the lowest moments.

“They sent me the perfect things at the perfect times,” Deborah said.

Dennis is at home now, resting and regaining his strength.

Luckily, no other member of the Campbell family has shown any symptoms, either.

However, the entire family — including Brett, a sophomore and twins Brittany and Brooke, who are seventh-graders — will have to remain in their house for another week.

Once his two weeks of self-quarantine are up, he will have to get tested again.

If that test comes back negative, Dennis wants to help others. The father/husband/coach has agreed to donate his plasma, which has been shown to aid in the recovery of COVID-19 patients.

“I’ve told them I would do that — as long as they keep the plasma I donate people in Central Kentucky. I want to help people here. God got me through it and I can help others, I’m going to do it,” Dennis said.