Australian Woman, 94, Beats COVID-19

Australian Woman, 94, Beats COVID-19
Olivia Newton-John speaks at Wellness Centre at Austin Hospital Australia. (Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)
AAP
By AAP
4/16/2020
Updated:
4/16/2020

A Victorian great-great-grandmother has survived a COVID-19 infection.

Maureen Appleby, 94, left the Austin Hospital on April 15 with a guard of honour after kicking COVID-19 to the curb.

“I fought it back, I got there,” she told reporters.

“Two men came to visit me—I thought they were out of Mars. They were in white uniforms with big black glasses, I thought I was dreaming, she said.

Nurses formed a guard of honour and cheered on the COVID-19 survivor as her son, John, wheeled her out.

She was diagnosed with COVID-19 a week ago while in hospital after breaking her ribs in a fall.

Austin Hospital’s Jason Trubiano said Appleby “has defied all odds” and was in the high-risk category.

“She is over 90 and really that is an amazing effort,” he told reporters.

Her son also left the hospital after contracting COVID-19 via an unknown community transmission.

Appleby has words of wisdom for others.

“To not get scared. Just to take life as it comes and to fight back,” she told Nine News.

For now, she’s at home in Rosanna ready to enjoy a lamb roast.

By Christine McGinn