By Moira Wyton, The Tyee, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

When Robert Billyard asked a doctor for a beer just before 9 a.m., no one in his hospital room was shocked. They were too relieved. It was the first coherent  sentence the 77-year-old had spoken since being placed in an induced  coma while his body fought COVID-19 for more than a month at Abbotsford  Regional Hospital.