SOUTH LAKE TAHOE, Calif — Michael Sunzeri was in a hospital with COVID-19 for more than four months before being discharged on Dec. 2.
Within one hour of being released, 58-year-old Sunzeri began having problems with his oxygen tank, which he now needs to breathe.
His brother, who was driving him home from the hospital, noticed he was having an emergency and tried to help, causing the vehicle to drift onto the wrong side of the road.
Placer County Sheriff's Deputy Wes Hoskin noticed the vehicle and pulled over. He said that he thought the driver could have been impaired or even driving under the influence, but he quickly realized, the passenger was actually having a medical emergency.
“He had difficulty breathing. He was shaking visibly,“ Hoskin said.
Deputy Hoskin performed rescue breaths until Sunzeri could be hooked up to a second oxygen machine. Sunzeri eventually regained consciousness and was taken to a hospital.
“I don’t remember much of that. I was already losing consciousness,” Sunzeri said.
Citing medical staff, Sergeant Michael Powers told ABC10 that if Hoskin was not there, it's likely that Sunzeri would have died.
“Divine intervention. I believe it with all my heart,” Sunzeri said about the officer's involvement.
“I remember coming to and I see him with my brother above me,” he added. “No doubt in my mind, an angel. “
Sunzeri says Deputy Hoskin saved his life and even visited him in the hospital the next day.
"I owe him my entire life," Sunzeri said.
While he says it would be impossible to repay him, he believes fate has given a second, if not a third chance, to save others by sharing his overall story to advocate for vaccines. He was healthy but also unvaccinated when he landed in the hospital.
“My life, because I didn’t get that shot... was compromised, and thank God, not ruined completely because I made it. But it was a fight,“ he said.
Sunzeri has been released from the hospital and is staying with his brother-in-law in Santa Cruz until he recovers and can return to South Lake Tahoe.
