LA JOLLA, Calif. — When Eduardo Moreno checked in to Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla last July, doctors weren’t sure he’d ever make it out.

“We went through a lot, believe me,” said Cecilia Amador, Moreno’s mom.

The coronavirus attacked his body, leaving him with respiratory failure. He spent three months in a coma and six months on life support. For a short time, things were looking up.

“Eduardo’s goals for Christmas included learning how to talk on the ventilator, walking 100 feet, doing a video for his daughter,” said Scott McCaul, a doctor in the ICU at Scripps. “During that same week, he ended up in the operating room three times.”

The journey made Tuesday morning all the more special. With nurses lining the hallways, Moreno’s mother helped push him in a wheelchair toward the front door of the hospital.

“When they called me yesterday and said he was going to be released, I couldn’t believe it,” Amador said. “I thank God and all the doctors and nurses in the ICU.”

With a final push, his wheelchair glided between the front doors and into the sunlight. Moreno was finally going home.

“To see him here, going home, is so special,” Carise Edwards, a nurse at Scripps, said.