SC coronavirus patient recovered after getting ‘liquid gold’ plasma treatment
Lisa Hardin, a 56-year-old Blythewood nurse, found out on Good Friday she had been diagnosed with the coronavirus and was told by health officials to self-quarantine.
However, her condition worsened. She lost her sense of taste and smell, struggled to breathe and developed a fever that shot up to 103.9 degrees.
At Prisma Health’s Richland emergency room, Hardin was told her husband, Kevin, could not come with her into the hospital.
Hardin had developed pneumonia and a severe cough that kept her from sleeping. As doctors worked to determine her course of treatment, she was put on oxygen to help her breathe. She was close to being put on a ventilator.
“It hurt so bad, that tears would drip from my eyes,” Hardin said of the struggle to take a deep breath.
Hardin found out she wasn’t a candidate for some experimental treatments being considered for the coronavirus. But on Easter Sunday, doctors suggested the idea of a plasma transfusion from a recovered patient, which she agreed to try.
Partners at the Blood Connection were able to find a donor in Chattanooga, Tenn. who matched Hardin, and the donation was sent to South Carolina.
So the day after Easter, Hardin became the first person in South Carolina to receive donated plasma from a person who had recovered from COVID-19. The plasma had antibodies that doctors say can be use to combat the virus.
After receiving the plasma, Hardin finally got a good night’s rest, and the next day she was able to taste the coffee brought to her by the hospital.
For Hardin, the plasma proved to be ‘liquid gold.’
“I just kept feeling better and better and better,” she said, talking to reporters on a teleconference call Thursday.
Medical professionals have been working to find treatments from COVID-19 to help people who are hospitalized recover from the disease which can cause severe respiratory distress.
Prisma Health is participating in a couple of studies, including administering remdesivir, an antiviral medication which was used to treat Ebola, SARS and MERS. The FDA plans to allow emergency use of the drug to treat the coronavirus after positive trials showed it was effective, according to reports.
“Because COVID-19 is a new disease, remdesivir is one of very few investigational treatments available,” said Edwin Hayes, infectious diseases specialist and an assistant professor with University of South Carolina School of Medicine Columbia. “Matching the treatment to the patient requires a carefully balanced approach to meet both the clinical care needs of the patient and the strict requirements of the study.”
Prisma also is participating in an FDA trial led by the Mayo Clinic to see how well plasma from people who had recovered from COVID-19 and the accompanying antibodies are at treating patients with the coronavirus.
So far more than 30 people in South Carolina have each received a 200 milliliter dose of plasma collected through the Blood Connection, said Robert Rainer, the medical director of the Blood Connection.
Eighteen patients treated at Prisma Health Midlands facilities have received plasma. Three died after receiving the regimen as the treatment came too late, said Helmut Albrecht, an infectious diseases physician at Prisma Health and chair of the Department of Internal Medicine at the University of SC School of Medicine in Columbia.
However, most have done well. The second patient to receive plasma was already on a ventilator, and had failing kidneys, failing heart and lungs. That patient responded “dramatically to the treatment,” Albrecht said, adding, “The response to the plasma treatment has been astonishing.”
Hardin said she plans to donate plasma herself, and she and Albrecht have encouraged other people who have recovered from COVID-19 to contribute.
“It doesn’t help everybody, but it can be a game changer,” Albrecht said.
