My journey into the world of ARDS began on March 7, 2020. My brother in law and I had travelled to Brooklyn, New York to attend a festival with a couple thousand other people. At this time, Covid-19 was being reported in the United States to be a relatively contained virus. I had no concerns about acquiring it as there were just over 400 confirmed cases domestically.

Unfortunately for me, that trip would be where I contracted Covid-19 and my life would be changed forever.

That was a Saturday. By Tuesday, I started feeling “off” but it was not a common cold. This felt different. Wednesday was a difficult day at work. By Thursday afternoon, I couldn’t work anymore and had gone home sick. March 12, 2020 was the last time that I was able to work at my job.

I spent the weekend struggling with a high fever and low oxygen levels. Monday morning, I had a visit with my primary care physician and a chest x-ray. By the afternoon, as I awaited the official results of the x-ray, my oxygen dropped to a level necessitating a trip to the ER. I was placed on mechanical ventilation as the medical team scrambled to develop a further treatment plan.

Being the first case in the region, my team had no cases to draw from. They were in contact with physicians in France and China to learn of treatments that they had undertaken. The critical care pulmonologist leading my examined the imaging of my lungs and it was consistent with what was being seen in China. I was experiencing ARDS. He made the case to advocate for ECMO.

I was placed on ECMO and transferred to their main campus. I was given a 0-5% chance of survival. Additionally, because of the many unknowns of Covid-19 at the time, my family was informed that if I had gone into cardiac arrest, that there would be no attempts to resuscitate me.

During the coming weeks, I remained on the ventilation and ECMO. Dialysis was added into the treatment as well. I had clotting in the ECMO twice. Eventually, I had cleared Covid-19 and my lungs recovered. ECMO was removed. I was brought out of sedation and ventilation was removed.

I spent the next couple days recovering from the coma, but the time spent in it had deconditioned my body. I needed to learn to chew, swallow, stand and eventually walk. I received OT, PT and after a few days, I was able to leave the ICU to go to a step-down unit.

In the step-down unit, I gained strength and was eventually able to do the tasks that I had previously taken for granted such as dressing, feeding myself, toileting and hygiene. As I gained my faculties, I had learned of the events that had transpired while I was in the coma. As a result of close contact that I had with people before masking guidance, I had transferred the virus to at least 10 people that were known to me, including my mother who was 2 rooms away from me in the ICU and my father who had passed away from the virus while I was in the coma.

After 10 days in a step down unit, I was transferred to a rehab hospital where I received doctor monitoring, nursing care and more intensive OT and PT. I was released to go home after a week and a half where I then received a visiting nurse, OT and PT. When facilities opened up again, I was able to attend PT at a rehab facility. I began to see a psychologist weekly. I attended the post-ICU clinic at the hospital that I was treated at and a post-covid clinic at Johns Hopkins. I participate in an ARDS support group and a Covid support group.

During the months that followed my illness, it was determined that something else was going on as to why I was experiencing prolonged fatigue. Upon examination of follow-up imagery for my lungs, it was discovered that I had an elevated right hemi-diaphragm following Covid-19.

My diaphragm is currently being monitored as physicians suspect phrenic nerve damage which can repair itself and I am in the beginning stage of exploring possible mitochondrial damage from the virus. I still experience symptoms from neuropathy, PTSD and a handful of other unpleasant but manageable conditions.

With my participation in the various clinics and support groups, I’ve seen the effects that ARDS can have on people. Coupled with the first hand experiences that I had with it, I’m proud to help provide for the promotion of ARDS awareness, advocate and support for those effected by it.