Sometimes it’s the simple things, like holding hands while enjoying your own backyard.

“Sitting here in the peace and quiet, it’s serene. You just listen to the sound of the water and you can reflect on everything you’ve been through and what the future holds,” Debra Kobler said.

It’s a future that wasn’t so clear when we first met Debra and Dale Kobler back in November 2020. Debra had just left the hospital after months of battling the effects of COVID-19. She was in a coma for six weeks. It nearly killed her.

“I think every day, I pray every day and thank God for allowing me to live again, you know?” she said.

She lived through COVID, but now she’s living with Long COVID, ongoing health problems after the initial symptoms of the illness. At first, she had to learn to walk and talk again. There was speech, physical and occupational therapy. Trouble with her memory and the feeling of a foggy brain.

“One of the first things they asked me to do, they put a towel on the table, they said okay I need you to fold this,” she explained. “And with the brain fog I couldn’t wrap my brain on how to fold it. I tried several times. I’m like what the heck, it’s a towel, how could I not do this?”

But her condition has slowly improved over the years. She’s no longer in therapy, but she still struggles with the volume of her voice, and nerve damage that causes trouble balancing.

“Well, you know everyone wants to hold their wife’s hand, right?” Dale said. “But when we’re going over something uneven like this or something that could trigger her balance issues, just hold her hand. That’s all she needs.”

Despite some of the difficulties, Debra has since been able to return to work full-time.

“It was my goal to get back to where I was,” she said. “I mean physically I’m not 100% yet and I don’t know if I’ll ever be. I’m back mentally with my job, with my life. I have my life back.”

That hasn’t happened without more trying times, including a second bout with COVID last year.

“It brought back a lot of bad memories, yes,” she said. “And I just prayed and prayed and prayed that I could come out of this quickly and without incident.”

Thankfully, she was able to do that. And with the support of family, friends, even complete strangers, she’s pushing forward with a positive attitude. Last fall, she shared her experience at a Department of Health seminar.

“Very therapeutic for me to be able to do this. To be able to tell my story and to know that it was affecting people and reaching people,” she said.