Man wakes from coma, learns wife died of coronavirus

Los Andeles: When Lawrence Nokes, 69, was taken off the respirator on April 10, doctors told his family that he had a good chance of recovering.

Nokes worked as a nursing assistant at Pleasant View Nursing Home in Mt. Airy, Maryland. He'd been attending to patients just days before 84 of the facility's 95 residents tested positive for covid-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus. It was one of the biggest outbreaks of the virus in the state.

Nokes was admitted to Carroll Hospital Center on March 30 and intubated. After about a week in a coma, his prognosis improved, his family said. He started to breathe on his own. When he regained consciousness, Nokes asked for just one person: Minnette Nokes, 71, his wife of 24 years.

The vivacious, feisty woman who opened the door two decades ago when he came to drop off a pack of sugar. The person who greeted him after work each day at their quiet home in Westminster, Maryland, often resting a grandchild or great-grandchild on her hip. The woman who, on Sunday nights, slow-danced with him to Patti LaBelle.