Pentagon police officer now home after battling COVID-19

CLINTON, Md. (FOX 5 DC) - Patrick Bright is one of the most grateful people in the D.C. region tonight. He's home from the hospital after a grueling six weeks fighting COVID-19.

Bright says he's especially thankful to be one of the first local patients to get a special treatment.

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​​​​​​​Friday's homecoming was enough to inspire a hearty greeting from a convoy of Pentagon police officers who welcomed Bright — one of their own — home in Clinton.

With his wife and daughter at his side, Bright, a 15-year veteran Pentagon police officer, is home for the first time in more than a month. Grateful, he says, just to be alive after winning his death-defying battle with COVID-19.

"I'm a fighter and I'm gonna fight to the end. I'm gonna get back to where I was and carry on with life," Bright told FOX 5. 

Bright was clapped out two weeks ago after spending 35 days at MedStar Georgetown University Hospital. For nine of those agonizing days, he was on a ventilator and near death. For the past two weeks, he’s been a patient at the National Rehabilitation Hospital. 

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"It’s rough getting your strength back when you've been in a hospital bed for six weeks," said Bright. "I had to be fed through a tube. It feels like a baby all over again."

MedStar officials say Bright is one of the first COVID-19 patients in the D.C. region to successfully recover from what's called convalescent plasma therapy.

Two MedStar physicians who'd earlier recovered from the virus donated the plasma that Bright received at Inova's blood center in northern Virginia. That procedure is what the experts say brought Bright back from the brink of death.

Bright says he's determined to get back to normal. 

Click here to learn more about how to donate plasma through MedStar Georgetown