MadameNoire
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After a month-long battle with COVID-19, Rev. Jesse Jackson was finally released from the Chicago rehabilitation center where he was undergoing treatment for his infection and physical therapy for Parkinson’s disease, theGrio reported.
“The shot protected me from death,” Jackson said of the vaccine on Sept. 22 as he briefly spoke to reporters while exiting the facility. Jackson added that while he didn’t experience some of the COVID-19 symptoms like shortness of breath or respiratory issues, that the disease did impact his Parkinson’s and his ability to walk and talk.
According to the report, doctors and medical staff at the Shirley Ryan Ability Lab helped the civil rights leader to regain his strength by facilitating 60 to 90-minute long physical therapy sessions. The reverend was also required to undergo occupational and speech therapy, the report noted. While Jackson’s symptoms with the virus were mild, his condition with Parkinson’s worsened last month. He was transferred to the rehabilitation center a week after he was hospitalized at Northwestern. Jackson has been battling the neurological disorder since 2017.
As MADAMENOIRE previously reported, both Jackson, 79, and his wife, Jacqueline, 77, were admitted into Northwestern Hospital back in August following their COVID-19 diagnoses. Jackson was vaccinated for COVID-19, but his wife, Jacqueline, was not. According to their son, Jonathan, Jacqueline remained in Northwestern’s ICU department where she received some additional support from an oxygen machine prior to her release. Jackson told the Associated Press at the time that his wife didn’t receive the vaccine because of a “preexisting condition,” but he did not go into further details about her health issue.
Jonathan issued a statement about his mother’s release on Sept. 22, telling reporters she had become “a true advocate for everyone” to get vaccinated.
“We know it is a miracle that both of our parents are now COVID-19 survivors, and we thank God for his healing,” he continued. “We also pray for the millions of people who have been infected with this virus and pray they too will also overcome.”
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