Metuchen Resident, 26, Leaves Hospital After Coronavirus Fight

METUCHEN – "We nearly lost him," Gov. Phil Murphy said on Monday.

But Jack Allard, a Ridgewood native living in Metuchen, was finally "clapped out" of the hospital last week after a long, tough month-long battle with the coronavirus.

Murphy said he spoke to Allard and his mother and made the announcement about his recovery during the governor's news conference on Monday.

Murphy also noted that Allard's case proves that the illness can hurt anybody, including a two-time All-American lacrosse athlete.

"Don't think for one minute that just because you exercise, you're immune. You're not," Murphy said. "And Jack is one of the extremely lucky ones."

It had been a long battle for Allard. They lost his test. They held up his drug trial. Soon after, he was in a coma. Allard's family also had to push through "red tape" to get the treatment he needed.

"My son is healthy, no pre-existing conditions and he's 25. This virus is really dangerous and now he is very, very sick," Genny Allard told ABC7 last month, saying her son developed a fever after working in Manhattan.

Jack is a 2016 Bates College alumnus and a two-time All-American lacrosse athlete who fell ill on March 13 with symptoms including vomiting, back pain and a fever, according to The Bates Student.

He struggled to get help after the lab lost his test – something that prompted his family's local congressman, U.S. Rep. Josh Gottheimer, to call "inexcusable."

"Somehow they lost his test and it cost all those days," the congressman told ABC7.

Then Gottheimer said he had to fight to get Allard on a trial for a drug called remdesivir, a drug to help him survive the disease. He eventually was treated at the University of Pennsylvania.

He was approved for the drug trial, but Gottheimer said Gilead Sciences initially halted emergency individual "compassionate use" access to its experimental COVID-19 drug remdesivir, citing overwhelming demand.

Compassionate-use requests were still made for pregnant women and children under 18 years of age, but Gottheimer said the company left "hundreds of other patients suffering from extreme symptoms of COVID-19 without treatment that could save their lives."

"Now is the time for our government and life sciences companies to redouble their efforts and commitment to effectively treating patients, developing the cures we need, and providing access to those who need it most," he said. "Thousands of American lives depend on it. We cannot delay.”