Answered prayers: Topeka pastor survives coronavirus
“I’m a miracle!” That’s how Topeka Pastor Walter Sherrod describes himself now that he’s officially been deemed coronavirus-free.
But his journey to being a survivor was a long and grueling one.
His faith was put to the ultimate test when he learned he tested positive for the virus, “I was struggling and fighting because I didn’t want to die; I wanted to live,” Sherrod explained.
The 66-year-old pastor has been the leader of the Temple of Deliverance Church of God in Christ for more than three decades.
On March 29th, his symptoms became so severe he knew he needed help immediately. So he drove himself to Stormont Vail Hospital in Topeka and was quickly admitted to the ICU.
“They put me on the ventilator,” he said. “And I was on the ventilator for 9 or 10 days.”
Pastor Sherrod had many odds stacked again him.
His age, 66, placed him in the high-risk category for coronavirus, along with a number of underlying health issues like high blood pressure, diabetes, and sleep apnea.
He spent weeks at the hospital, his health declining week by week.
Then came the day doctors told his family to prepare for the worst; instead, his family relied on their faith.
“They told me that they began to pray,” Sherrod said. “One hour later my whole life changed, something happened and I began to breathe and I got stronger and stronger.
“They told me that they began to pray — one hour later, my whole life changed something happened, and I began to breathe and I got stronger and stronger.”
His family’s prayers were answered.
But Pastor Sherrod’s journey to recovery continued once he was discharged from the hospital because he couldn’t walk or stand. His muscles in his legs were weak, and he had no stability. He was admitted to Topeka’s Kansas Rehabilitation Hospital, where therapists helped him learn how to walk again.
“I know that I’m a miracle,” Sherrod explained. “I am a miracle because I should have been gone.”
As for where he contracted the virus, Sherrod thinks he might have been exposed to it at a church conference in Kansas City, Kansas. On March 16-22 he attended the Kansas East Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction’s Ministers and Workers Conference.
Kansas health officials said there are more than 50 positive cases of coronavirus and six deaths in the state linked to the church conference.
Pastor Sherrod is now one of more than 6,000 Kansans that have tested positive for coronavirus. Currently, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment doesn’t have a way of tracking recoveries, so it is unknown how many people in the state have recovered from the virus.
Call it divine intervention or a message from above, in a time of uncertainty Pastor Sherrod’s story can give us all hope.
As for Pastor Sherrod, he has a renewed sense of faith, and respect for the healthcare workers on the frontline of this virus, “It’s medicine, prayer, and the power of God that brought me through,” he