Gather some Kleenex for this one. It doesn’t get much better than this.
Retired Kearny Police Sgt. Art Hackett, 72, of North Arlington, had the Coronavirus. Two weeks ago, he received the Anointing of the Sick (or Last Rites), from a priest because he was intubated and on a respirator and not doing well.
One week later, he was reportedly the first COVID-19 patient to be successfully weaned off a respirator at Mountainside Medical Center.
Then, on April 17, he was wheeled out of Mountainside — alive!
His daughter, Meghan Dell Santi, tells us he’s now in a rehab center, and has a long road ahead of him, but she’s confident “he’ll get there.”
“We are forever indebted to the staff at Mountainside Hospital and in these very dark days, every success story is the kind of morale booster we all could use,” Dell Santi said.
Watch the video of Sgt. Hackett leaving the hospital on Friday, April 17, below.
Learn more about the writer ...
Kevin A. Canessa Jr. is the editor of and broadcaster at The Observer, an organization he has served since 2006. He is responsible for the editorial content of the newspaper and website, the production of the e-Newspaper, writing several stories per week (including the weekly editorial), conducting live broadcasts on social media channels such as YouTube, Facebook, and X, including a weekly recap of the news — and much more behind the scenes. Between 2006 and 2008, he introduced the newspaper to its first-ever blog — which included podcasts, audio and video. Originally from Jersey City, Kevin lived in Kearny until 2004, lived in Port St. Lucie. Florida, for four years until February 2016 and in March of that year, he moved back to Kearny to return to The Observer full time. Click Here to send Kevin an email.