BATON ROUGE – It was a lucky day for one grandpa who is recovering from COVID-19 complications. During a drive-by St. Patrick’s Day parade at Baton Rouge Rehab Hospital, 73-year-old Paul Ramirez saw some of his family for the first time in 101 days.

“Those first few months were hard especially for the kids not being able to see Paw Paw,” said Paul’s daughter, Scarlett Short.

Scarlett stood by Paul’s side while he watched four cars full of his loved ones hold up signs as they drove past him.

“His grand kids were looking forward to it. It was almost like Christmas morning, they woke up and asked what time is the parade,” said Scarlet.

Paul tested positive for COVID in early December. He had to go to the ICU two times since then. He is now doing therapy at Baton Rouge Rehabilitation Hospital.

“Right now he is not able to walk yet. He started to take a few steps with the walker yesterday,” said Scarlett.

The family hopes in a few more weeks Paul will be able to go home. They’re grateful, though, they were able to at least say hi and tell him they love him during the parade.

The parade was originally scheduled for Wednesday, but was pushed back one day due to bad weather.