Pinehurst, NC Hundreds of community members gathered Thursday to raise money for a Moore County firefighter fighting COVID-19.
John Wilson, who works for firefighters in Southern Pines, Aberdeen and Pinebluff, was recently released from the ICU after fighting the coronavirus for more than a month.
Wilson, who tested positive for coronavirus on Jan. 7 before spending more than 40 days at the ICU, is making progress, but still has a long way to go.
All the money raised during the fundraiser at the Pinehurst Surgical Clinic on Thursday goes directly to Wilson’s family to pay his medical bills.
Nearly 1,000 people turned up to support the Wilson family.
Residents of Southern Pines are affectionately referred to as ‘Big John’ by Wilson.
His wife, Jessica Wilson, said he, in addition to his high blood pressure, was a healthy man before getting COVID-19. During his time in the ICU, Wilson developed blood clots in his lungs. He was heavily anesthetized for weeks and lost £ 45 before being released from the ICU on 25 February.
WRAL reporter Bryan Mims contributed to this report.