EAST GRAND FORKS, Minn. — An East Grand Forks man is finally back home after months of touch-and-go moments that had family and medical staff wondering if he would ever make it out of the hospital.

Gabriel Soto, 47, was hospitalized in a coma from May 15 until he woke up months later on July 14, his birthday.

“I don’t remember anything,” Soto said.

When Soto loaded up his belongings for the trip home from Vibra Hospital, inside the Sanford Medical Center in Fargo, there was a lot going through his mind, including the days few thought he would leave the facility alive.

After all, he spent a good portion of the spring and summer in a coma due to complex medical issues.

“I don’t know, just suddenly clarity. I think Jesus just wanted me to snap out of it, it was just amazing,” Soto said.

Nurses and staff at Vibra, more than thrilled to see Soto leave, wheeled him down the halls of Vibra on Friday for a trip home to East Grand Forks with family.

“Really, it is not just a success story, it is a miracle. We certainly did not expect this outcome, and it warmed all of our hearts. When he woke up, he woke up just like that. And he was clear and strong and sat at the edge of the bed, and he had been on a ventilator so he had not been able to talk to us or respond to us because of his medical condition,” said Bonnie Vangerud, chief clinical officer for Vibra.

Soto, a huge football fan, is looking forward to the fall season and maybe even getting back to work as a project painter. He has a new outlook on life, too.

“Enjoy every day you have on this planet,” Soto said.

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