For months family and friends of Hugo Miranda have gathered to pray outside Methodist Richardson Medical Center.
Co-founder of Irving restaurant Hugo Invitados, Miranda has been in the hospital since he contracted COVID-19 in late December.
Prayers were answered Monday as Miranda was finally well enough to be released from the hospital.
There were tears of joy and cheers as Miranda left the hospital surrounded by family and his medical team.
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"This day means everything to me," his brother Cesar Miranda said. "Especially knowing that my brother is about to go to the next step."
The Miranda family said they were grateful to the medical staff that provided critical care.
"I don't wish this on anybody in this world," Cesar Miranda said. "People out there take this serious and please protect yourself."
Dr. Michael Foster said it took an entire team of doctors, nurses, technicians, social workers and case managers to get Miranda well enough to leave the hospital.
Still facing a long recovery, Miranda now heads to a rehabilitation facility where he'll have to learn how to walk again.
"Months of rehabilitation, honestly, but I think he can do it," said Dr. Michael Foster with Methodist Richardson Medical Center. "He's young. He's motivated and he's got some of the best support I've ever seen."
Foster said he believed Miranda's family played a critical role in his recovery.
"We can only do so much and he put in the work himself and, I think, to stay motivated he needed that," Foster said.
His family said that support will remain steady until Miranda is back on his feet and back in the restaurant he loves.
"We already fought one war. We still haven't finished it yet and we're still going strong," Cesear Miranda said.
