He tested positive for COVID-19 for 305 days straight, Independent reported.
There were days the retire diving instructor's condition was so bad, hoped for death. But doctors and his wife didn't give up on him.
He suffered for a long time
Smith, 72, has several underlying conditions including hypersensitivity pneumonitis — a condition that caused the inflammation of his lung tissue, and chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
His slow developing cancer messes up his body's white blood cells which is crucial in fighting diseases.
In fact, his case was so unique that there's even a study on it.
Smith tested positive for COVID-19 in May 2020 and fought the disease for 10 long months, but thankfully, he has finally recovered.
In that period, his symptoms went so bad at times that he said his wife planned his funeral five times.
"At one point I was bedridden for two or three months. My wife had to wash and shave me in bed because I just couldn’t stand up.
"Sometimes I thought, I wish they’d take me in the middle of the night, because I just can’t go on anymore. You get to the point where you are more afraid of living than dying," Smith told Independent.
The treatment
According to the study on Smith's case, doctors first treated him using remdesivir, a drug commonly used in COVID-19 treatment, including when former US president Donald Trump got it. However, the drug did not work for Smith.
They eventually tried combined treatment with casirivimab and imdevimab, which are antibodies created in the lab that targets different coronavirus spike protein. Swab tests 45 days later showed that Smith was finally negative.
When he and his wife received the news, they opened a bottle of champagne to celebrate.
"We opened a bottle of champagne that we had in the cupboard … and drank the whole thing between us. Then we rang everybody up saying ‘I’m negative, I’m negative," he told The Guardian.
Case study
While Smith's case in unfortunate, it also gave researchers in the medical field the opportunity to study the virus, how it affects people with health conditions similar to him and more.
It is believed that Smith lived with COVID-19 symptoms for six weeks before he got tested, which means that he's had it for close to a year.
There's so much we don't know about this virus yet so stay safe, guys!