“By the time I got the results I would say I was 85-90 percent (recovered),” Kelly said. “In a way, I’m really glad I didn’t get the results in a day or two because I think it would have really scared me based on the fact I had pneumonia. I watch TV like everybody, and you see people who develop pneumonia and coronavirus and next thing you know they’re in the hospital on a ventilator. That’s not the way you want to go.”

“So when they called me that Friday, I was pretty well shocked.”

Road to recovery

Kelly was well enough this week to drive to Lawrence, Kansas, to help his daughter move back from her dormitory.

“I’m going on some neighborhood walks, things like that, to build up my endurance,” he said. “I don’t think I could run a 5-mile race now, but I feel really good. I’d say 95%.”

It’s quite a vault from where he was a few weeks ago.

“I was in bed for 20 hours a day for four or five days,” he said. “Thankfully I never had breathing problems, some people develop that and have to go to a hospital. I never got close to that stage, I was very fortunate.

“Thankfully the meds they gave me worked and I got better in a four-or-five day period.”