Athletics' Minor League Coach Garrison Comes off Ventilator After Three Weeks

According to his fiancée, Oakland minor league coach/manager Webster Garrison was improving enough in his battle with the COVID-19 coronavirus that he was taken off a ventilator Thursday and was able to breathe on his own.

Oakland A’s minor league manager Webster Garrison appears to have turned a corner in his battle against the COVID-19 coronavirus.

According to a tweet sent out by his fiancée, Nikki Trudeaux, Garrison came off a ventilator that was helping him breathe Thursday, the first time in over three weeks that he’d been deemed healthy enough to breathe on his own.

Trudeaux said that Garrison wasn’t capable of talking immediately after coming off the ventilator in the New Orleans area.

“Webster Garrison is off the ventilator,” Trudeaux wrote. “He is still weak and can’t say world. He’s mumbling a little bit. That’s expected with the tube down his through for that length of time and also being on those sedatives so long.

“However, being on a ventilator for three weeks and one day, he is now breathing 100% on his own and his oxygen saturation level is at 100%."

#WebbyStrong #KeepPraying pic.twitter.com/vrSHUTiOF2

— Nikki Trudeaux-Garrison (@cajunurse911) April 16, 2020

Trudeaux, who had to fight her own battle with the coronavirus, has been making almost daily pleas for nightly prayers for Garrison, reaching out with the hashtag “WebbyStrong.”

Garrison, 54, was with the A’s in spring training this year as a coach. Last year he managed Class-A Stockton and he was scheduled to manage in the Arizona rookie league this summer. Garrison had a five-game Major League Career with the A’s in August of 1996.

Through it all, Trudeaux kept Garrison’s friends and family up to date with his progress, although she couldn’t be with him directly with both of them inflicted with the disease.

The turning point seemed to come early in the week when Trudeaux wrote Garrison was breathing partially on his own, although the ventilator was still attached. On Wednesday she was able to report that his eyes were open and, “He is smiling. He is wiggling his toes. He is just doing great.”

Follow Athletics insider John Hickey on Twitter: @JHickey3

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