AlexFortunately I found Automatic Gain Control plugin for audacity, and it basically saved the audio. The audio quality is not nearly as good as if it were recorded with my Rode microphone, but at least it is now legible.
The plugin can be found here -- https://forum.audacityteam.org/viewtopic.php?t=68501
The only custom setting I've used -- squelch threshold level was set to -40db.
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