Retired Suffolk correction officer leaves hospital after near-fatal 5-month battle with COVID-19

As a crowd of well-wishers waited outside, Timothy Heaton sat in a wheelchair inside St. Charles Hospital in Port Jefferson and said he felt lucky to be alive.

"You never give up, I don’t care what you do," said Heaton, 61, a former Suffolk County correction officer who survived a five-month battle with COVID-19 that struck him as he was about to retire and took him to the brink of death.

Holding 4-month-old granddaughter Haylee Jensen in his lap, Heaton, who was discharged Tuesday, said: "The doctors were perplexed as to how I was even alive. I was given last rites. After hospice, there was nothing that could be done. But with my family and prayer, I made it through … They were wonderful."

Heaton, who worked in the Suffolk County Yaphank Correctional Facility for more than 30 years, was diagnosed with the virus in September. The complications hospitalized him at both Stony Brook Hospital and later St. Charles for several months and, at one point, he spent six weeks in a medically-induced coma, according to Heaton’s family and law enforcement officials.

Family members said doctors told them to say goodbye to their patriarch several times during his hospitalization.

His daughter, Julie Jensen, 27, of Miller Place, said she was scheduled to give birth to Haylee during that time. Between being in labor and fearing for her father’s failing health as he was intubated in the intensive care unit, the ordeal was emotionally draining, Jensen said.

"It was a lot of pressure and stress," Jensen said. "I had to be induced because I couldn’t go into labor naturally. Oct. 21 was her due date, but on Oct. 21, they called us to come in and say our goodbyes to him. Days later, she was born."

Her daughter’s birth, she said, was "a light throughout all of this" for her family.

"She gave my dad a lot of purpose and a big motive to help him get better, so she was just a joy and her life is a gift," Jensen said. "Now my dad can enjoy his retirement being a grandpa with her."

Nicole Heaton, 25, of Medford, Heaton’s other daughter, said her family will still have to monitor her father’s progress at home. But the most important part for her was that he was back with their family.

"We didn’t expect him to come home this soon. It’s a really miraculous recovery," Nicole Heaton said.

Suffolk County Sherriff Errol Toulon Jr. said Heaton was a beloved officer and that officers throughout the facility had been praying and hoping for his recovery.

"He always had a smile on his face, he was always someone that was approachable, and when you have a senior officer like that which can help the younger officers in the department, that’s someone they can go to because he’s approachable," Toulon said.

Timothy Heaton is now vaccinated but was not before he was diagnosed with COVID-19. He said now he wishes he had gotten the shot.

"If I had 20-20 hindsight … I would have gotten vaccinated, because it was a very rough ride, but everyone should have their own choice to get it," Heaton said. "This really hit me out of left field, I was never sick before, nothing. If I could have avoided this situation, I would have."

Heaton had a positive message for people struggling with COVID-19.

"If you’re sick, never give up," Heaton said. "Where there’s hope, there’s life, and where there’s life, there’s hope."