Medical Miracle: H1N1 Victim Returns Home After Being On Her Deathbed

RIVERBANK (CBS13) — A Riverbank woman says it's a medical miracle she's alive after she nearly died from the H1N1 virus.

CBS13 captured her happy homecoming after a nearly month-long stay in the hospital.

Fernanda Floren was by all means healthy at 51 years old. But more than three weeks ago, she was rushed to the hospital with flu-like symptoms and put on life support the next day.

Fast-forward to this day—a day her family never thought would come. If the Florens never believe in miracles before, they certainly do now.

Doctors told her husband, Dan, that she had H1N1. He didn't think she would live for more than a few days.

I couldn't believe I was having those thoughts," he said .

Doctors put Fernanda in a medically induced coma—one of their last options to keep her alive.

"It was horrible," he said. "She had tubes coming out of her mouth."

But fourteen days into the coma, the day after Valentine's Day, he says his wife of almost 30 years finally woke up.

She says a nurse who watched over her told her later she thought Fernanda wouldn't make it.

Fernanda and her family are now paying it forward by asking the public to give blood—she says she also survived after getting two blood transfusions.

Fernanda's also telling everyone to get a flu shot, something she'd never gotten before.

"I almost didn't make it," she said. "That's why you should get the flu shot."

Fernanda and her family will be holding a blood drive in Modesto in March, but urge everyone to give blood wherever they can.