Family seeks plasma donor for Midlothian man battling COVID-19

DALLAS – The household of a Midlothian man combating for his life in opposition to COVID-19 is asking for the general public’s assist getting an important plasma donation that might assist save him.

Stephen Donelson has been battling the illness within the hospital since March 20. His household says they’ve signed off on an experimental therapy that makes use of antibodies in plasma donations from recovered COVID-19 sufferers to attempt to assist these nonetheless critically unwell from the virus.

Stephen’s spouse, Terri, says he’s been critically unwell and on a ventilator. He’s been sedated within the ICU ever since he began feeling unwell greater than two weeks in the past. She hasn’t been capable of see or communicate to her husband as he battles the virus. However the household is hoping a plasma donor will come ahead to presumably assist save his life.

Stephen has been battling coronavirus within the ICU at UT Southwestern since he began feeling unwell greater than two weeks in the past. It began with only a runny nostril.

“He didn’t have a fever. Did not have any gastrointestinal signs,” Terri stated. “He did not also have a cough.”

However issues rapidly deteriorated from there.

“Round 2 a.m. that morning after I walked into the bed room, he was barely respiratory. Blue in shade,” Terri recalled. “And so I instantly picked up the cellphone and referred to as 911.”

Ever since, Stephen has been on a ventilator combating for his life, closely sedated and unable to see his household.

Terri says Stephen was recognized with pulmonary fibrosis eight years in the past and had a double lung and liver transplant in 2018, so he had been sporting a masks and staying at residence for the reason that coronavirus outbreak began within the U.S.

They’re not sure the place he would possibly’ve caught the illness, however Terri says her husband’s docs approached her about an experimental therapy that makes use of antibodies in plasma of recovered COVID-19 sufferers on critically unwell sufferers like her husband.

“I feel as a result of the chances are stacked so in opposition to him that something that might give him a leg up, a lift up, one thing in his favor,” Terri stated. “There’s so many individuals which are praying with and have already given us a leg up, however something that might give him a leg up I’m all for.”

UT Southwestern says utilizing plasma from recovered COVID-19 sufferers might assist stimulate a stronger immune response in sick sufferers. The FDA not too long ago allowed for emergency use of plasma on COVID-19 sufferers as an “investigational remedy.”

 Medical professionals say it’s usually protected and has been used to deal with different viral infections like Ebola, however the remedy has not been examined for effectiveness but in opposition to COVID-19.

Individuals who have beforehand examined optimistic for COVID-19, haven’t had any signs for 14 days, and have now examined unfavorable for COVID-19 are eligible to donate plasma for the therapy. They will signal as much as assist by finishing a donor request type by way of UT Southwestern.

“I feel for anybody that has efficiently navigated their manner by way of this horrible virus is that you simply’re probably carrying gold in your blood,” Terri stated. “Proper now as we get additional into this, I feel something that exhibits a optimistic consequence we’re clinging to for hope. And that is what I am doing. I am clinging to it for hope.”

The household continues to be ready for a possible donor.

For more information on the plasma donation process for COVID-19 patients, click here.