Retired Marine Gives Heartwarming Speech to Hospital Staff

By Amanda Thomason April 27, 2020 at 2:45pm

“Whatever God’s will is, I will accept it.”

That has been 20-year Marine Alex Melo’s prayer in desperate times of need, according to the Seacoast Online.

Two times he has been pushed to this prayer: Once, as a soldier in the Iraq War when he was mistaken for the enemy, and the next time as a victim of COVID-19.

Clearly, God’s will has been for Melo to continue on this Earth, because both times, he has pulled through.

The virus started off for the retired Marine with some familiar symptoms. Melo, from York, Maine, said he experienced coughing, chills and a fever, and eventually he had the trademark shortness of breath.

After getting tested, he was moved to the York Hospital ICU, where it was discovered he also had a blood clot. At that point, he was moved to Portsmouth Regional Hospital in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Soon, he got the news that doctors thought the best course of action would be to intubate him.

“I saw cardio and lung doctors, they quickly reevaluated the whole situation and decided on an intubation period for two days,” he said.

Melo was aware of the risks, and spent the time before the procedure in prayer.

“Unfortunately, I have heard a lot of stories where people don’t wake up from it,” he admitted.

That’s when he committed himself to God’s will, content that the outcome was in the best hands, and was intubated.

“When I saw light again, it was the most beautiful feeling,” he told Seacoast Online. “It’s like you came back to life. I was so happy, I was so emotional. It was the most beautiful feeling.”

“Alex Melo – husband, father, and retired Marine – was discharged from Portsmouth Regional Hospital after 13 days in the hospital with COVID-19,” Portsmouth Regional Hospital shared on Facebook on April 22. “Alex spent five days in the ICU and improved enough to be transferred to our Progressive Care unit.”

“Just over a week later, Alex left PRH, cheered on by our staff. So many of our employees were touched by Alex’s COVID-19 fight and subsequent recovery.”

The video has been leaving many cheered, both because of his recovery and because of the address he felt compelled to give to healthcare workers before he was wheeled out of the hospital.

“I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the work that you have done,” he said to all the staff assembled.

“Thank God for all the patience he gives you, for all the strength, for the support he gives you — that you are giving, for sacrificing your time, your life, to be on the front lines for us so you can save us and keep us out here. And this is the result of your efforts.”

“They are angels with shields and swords, because with the shield, they’re shielding you from getting more sick, and with the swords, they’re fighting with all their medicine,” he told Seacoast Online. “They are my angels.”

Melo also had some words for the public.

“Don’t disregard the job those first responders are doing,” he advised. “From the cop, to the firefighters, to the guys in the ambulance, all the way up to the operating room where the doctors and nurses are.”

“I encourage everybody to do something to save somebody’s life,” he added, suggesting plasma donation. “Life is just too [precious] to let it go like that.”

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