“For 55 days, I was in an intensive care unit on a ventilator. Although ventilators save lives, the sobering reality is that the overwhelming majority of intubated Covid-19 patients do not survive,” Byrd said.

He described his bout with the virus by saying, “everything that can go wrong with Covid did,” adding that he continued to get sicker and sicker – eventually needing a liver transplant.

“Just when it seemed like I was improving, suddenly I wasn’t. My liver began to fail. I developed jaundice and was later diagnosed with Covid Cholangiopathy. I was told I would need a liver transplant or else I would die. Again, my family prepared for the worst,” he wrote.

Byrd says he received a new liver on June 12, and says, while he still has a long way to go, he’s getting stronger every day.