HILLSBOROUGH, N.C. (WNCN) – COVID-19 knocked a Hillsborough pastor down to his knees.
However, it is faith that is helping Pastor Tony Boss continue to put one foot in front of the other on his recovery journey.
“My hope was built in God,” Boss said.
This week, with some encouragement from his nurse, Boss took his first steps in months — his first since initially being diagnosed with COVID-19.
“She says, ‘What I want you to do is take your hands off the parallel bars and I want you to take some steps,’” Boss said.
“I thought she was crazy. Of course, I took the step and realized that I was able to walk again. I was so excited and we walked for the whole session,” he said while smiling.
In January, the 62-year-old pastor of Piney Grove Missionary Baptist Church in Hillsborough was rushed to Duke Regional Hospital in Durham after he developed symptoms after being exposed to the coronavirus.
Once Boss was admitted, things quickly spiraled. He spent weeks on a ventilator.
Through treatment and prayer, Boss left the hospital in April.
“You can overcome it if you work hard at it. Trust in the Lord,” he said.
CBS 17 first spoke with him in early May, days after being released.
At the time, he was bound to a wheelchair and had limited function of his hands.
“That was the biggest anxiety. Was I gradually going to be able to walk again?” he recalled.
Nearly three months later, he has more movement in his hands, is back in church, and is fully vaccinated.
“Get vaccinated for your own personal life so you don’t have to go through so many other things that this virus takes you through,” Boss said.
While he’s back in church, he hopes to be back in the pulpit preaching the first Sunday of August.
He said he will also continue doing physical therapy at Duke Health.
