VIDEO: EMT firefighter Joseph Solecki is back on the front lines with the Irving Fire Department after the battle of his life.
For 500 days, Solecki had COVID-19 and it was a battle that nearly cost him everything.
“Just amazing, it’s actually nothing short of a miracle,” said Capt. Jeff Judd, with the IFD.
Judd said he and several other firefighters caught COVID-19 shortly after treating a patient with the virus in July 2021. Several became very ill, but no one was hit as fast and as hard as Solecki.
“It was very shocking to see how quickly he deteriorated. Being a healthy guy as he was to being in the hospital in a coma,” said IFD driver Richard Estes, who is also the secretary of the local union.
Solecki’s firefighter "brothers" in Irving, Bryan-College Station, Houston and Brazos County rallied around his family.