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Mayra Ramirez still gets exhausted walking. Before she got sick the 28 year old was doing her paralegal job from home to be safe. But in April she caught Coronavirus. When she started fainting she went to the ER and was told to call her family in North Carolina right away. I only had a couple minutes to contact them to let them know what was going on before i was intubated. The virus had destroyed her lungs. on the left, a healthy lung. On the right, Mayra's. Her only hope, new lungs. Reconstruction. After a 10 hour surgery at Northwestern Medical, she became the first COVID patient to get a double lung transplant. This operation will be helpful to patients who are relatively young, who have limited comorbid conditions or pre-existing conditions and who remain stuck on the ventilator despite clearing the virus. Doctors performed the same operation last month on 62 year old Brian Coons, a grandfather owner of an auto repair shop.
Coons thought COVID was a hoax and never wore a mask. I was perfectly healthy this thing took me down hard. He and wife Nancy want their story to be a lesson. Stay safe. Listen, this disease is not a joke. Not a hoax. When Mayra first awoke in June, she didn't even know she'd had a transplant. I looked at myself, i couldn't recognize my body. It wasn't until weeks later that i had the ability to, you know, think to myself. There's a family out there that's grieving their loved one. I have that person's lungs and how lucky i was to have received it. I just took a lot of things for granted i'm just gonna try and grab everything i can now. Two patients eternally grateful to be part of a new possibility in COVID care.
