Lizze Buchanan, 25, says she was born to be a nurse. She spent much of the spring and fall on the front lines on the COVID-19 floor at Norton Audubon Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky.

A Troy native, Buchanan attended the University of Louisville after graduating from Catholic Central High School. She is currently working on her nursing doctorate.

But studying has temporarily slowed down, as Buchanan expects to spend a significant amount of time battling the effects of COVID-19.

“It’s going to be about a month or two of pulmonary and physical recovery,” says Buchanan.

Buchanan was hospitalized at St. Peter’s after becoming sick in mid-December. She was admitted to the ICU on Christmas Day, after her oxygen levels dipped. Buchanan was put on a ventilator, while conscious, in the early hours of December 26.

“I just had to lay there and I had to let the machine breathe for me … trying to balance surrendering without letting go was something that I wish on no one,” says Buchanan.

The 25-year-old has no pre-existing conditions and has been following COVID-19 regulations and guidelines. She says having an acute understanding of everything going on while hospitalized was both a blessing and a curse.

“Knowledge is power. It’s also a burden to know what those words mean,” says Buchanan.

She was released from the hospital on New Year’s Day. Buchanan still needs equipment to help her breathe, and she occasionally gets short of breath.

A GoFundMe page has been set up to help with her recovery. She says any money she doesn’t use will be donated back to St. Peter’s, where she believes nurses went above and beyond for her.

“I love being that resource for other people, and I definitely have. It’s renewed those feelings this past week of how awful it is, how much they stepped up and were able to do that for me,” says Buchanan.

Buchanan says she hopes people continue to wash their hands, wear masks, and social distance, but she doesn’t want them to submit to fear.

“My family, we all followed all the rules. We did everything we were supposed to do, and I still almost, the virus still almost beat me,” she said, “and I think it’s a message, more than the coronavirus, that life happens. Terrible things happen and you can’t live too much in fear.”

She hopes to continue to study for her doctorate remotely while she recovers in Troy.