HERE’S OUR TAGGART HOUCK.>> I CALL IT MY PLAGUE THAT I HAD, BECAUSE I WAS SO SICK.>> The Reporter: THAT PLAGUE FOR LISA HARDEN WAS COVID-19. LISA WAS HOSPITALIZED BACK ON APRIL 10, A FEVER OF MORE THAN 103 DEGREES, SEPARATED FROM HER FAMILY WHEN SHE DEVELOPED BILATERAL VIRAL PNEUMONIA.>> IT HURT SO BAD, THAT TEARS WOULD DRIP FROM MY EYES EVERY BREATH.>> The Reporter: SHE HAVE WASN’T ELIGIBLE FOR TWO TRIAL DRUGS, SO HER DOCTOR RECOMMENDED A PLASMA TRANSFUSION. IT PUTS ANTIBODIES FROM PATIENTS WHO RECOVERED HAVE COVID-19 IN HER SYSTEM.>> AND I TOLD THEM, ABSOLUTELY, DON’T GO RIGHT AHEAD.>>> TWO DAYS LATER ON EASTER SUNDAY —>> BOY, I REALLY NEEDED TO HEAR THAT THEN BECAUSE THAT DAY, I FELT IN MY HEART THAT I WAS GIVING OUT, I REALLY DID, I THOUGHT I CAN’T KEEP FIGHTING.>> The Reporter: SHE RECEIVED PLASMA FROM A DONOR IN TENNESSEE.>> AND WHEN I GOT THEM, IT STARTED FIGHTING FOR ME AND IT DID IT VERY, VERY QUICKLY.>> THE VIRUS IS A SPRINTER, RUNS A 100-YARD DASH REALLY, REALLY FAST AND WHAT WE’RE ABLE TO DO WITH THE ANTIBODIES IS TAKE THEM INTO THE IMMUNE SYSTEM, IT OUTRUNS OUR IMMUNE SYSTEM, SO IT GIVES THAT PERSON A 50-YARD HEAD START.>>> THREE DAYS AFTER THAT, SHE WAS OUT OF THE HOSPITAL. WEDNESDAY, SHE TESTED NEGATIVE. NOW THANKING HER DONOR, HOPING OTHERS DO THE SAME TO HELP SAVE LIVES LIKE HERS.>> I GET TEARY EYED, I WOULD LIKE TO THANK YOU FOR SAVING MY LIFE, BECAUSE I KNOW HOW I FELT. I FELT MY LIFE WAS SLIPPING AWAY.>> The Reporter:
“I felt my life slipping away”: COVID-19 survivor says plasma donation kept her alive
Upstate blood donation center asking for donations to help fight COVID-19
Lisa Hardin just finished the fight of her life. In fact, the fight was for her life. “I call it my plague that I had, because I was so sick,” she said. Friday, April 10, Hardin was rushed to the hospital. She had a fever of more than 103 degrees. The nurse from the midlands tested positive for COVID-19.She was separated from her family when she developed Bilateral Viral Pneumonia.”It hurt so bad that years would drip from my eyes every deep breath,” she said. She was not eligible for two trial drugs. Preexisting health conditions had to do with the first trial. The second trial, she said, she missed by three hours. Her doctor, Dr. Divya Ahuja, specialist in infectious diseases at Prisma Health, recommended a plasma transfusion, which takes antibodies found in convalescent plasma from patients who’ve recovered from COVID-19 and puts it in her system. “I told him, ‘Absolutely, go right ahead,’” she said. On Easter Sunday, Ahuja came to her with good news. “He said, ‘We have a donor for you,’ and, boy, I really needed to hear that then because that day I felt in my heart that I was giving out, I really did, I thought, ‘I can’t keep fighting.’”The plasma came from a donor in Chattanooga, TN. She said when she received the antibodies, it felt like lightning in her body. She also described it as an army. “When I got them it started fighting for me very, very quickly,” she said. Dr. Robert Rainer, medical director at The Blood Connection said antibodies work to level the playing field. “The virus is a sprinter,” he said. “It runs a 100-yard dash really fast and what we’re able to do with the antibodies is take someone’s immune system, so it gives that person a 50-yard head start.” Rainer said antibodies aren’t the answer for everyone, but research from other viruses indicates it can help reduce impact. Antibodies were also used to help fight Ebola. Three days later, Hardin was out of the hospital. Wednesday, April 29, she learned she tested negative for the virus. Now, Hardin is thanking her anonymous donor and is hoping others step in to save lives like hers. “Thank you for saving my life,” she said. “Because I know how I felt, I felt my life slipping away.”Prisma Health and The Blood Connection are urging anyone who has recovered from COVID-19, especially people with blood types B and AB to call The Blood Connection at 864-751-1168. For more information on how you can donate, click here.Additional coronavirus resources:Tracking COVID-19 curve of cases, deaths in the Carolinas, GeorgiaLatest update on coronavirus cases, latest headlines in Carolinas, GeorgiaCOVID-19 maps of Carolinas, Georgia: Latest coronavirus cases by countySign up for WYFF News 4 coronavirus daily newsletter
GREENVILLE, S.C. —
Lisa Hardin just finished the fight of her life. In fact, the fight was for her life.
“I call it my plague that I had, because I was so sick,” she said.
Friday, April 10, Hardin was rushed to the hospital. She had a fever of more than 103 degrees. The nurse from the midlands tested positive for COVID-19.
She was separated from her family when she developed Bilateral Viral Pneumonia.
“It hurt so bad that years would drip from my eyes every deep breath,” she said.
She was not eligible for two trial drugs. Preexisting health conditions had to do with the first trial. The second trial, she said, she missed by three hours.
Her doctor, Dr. Divya Ahuja, specialist in infectious diseases at Prisma Health, recommended a plasma transfusion, which takes antibodies found in convalescent plasma from patients who’ve recovered from COVID-19 and puts it in her system.
“I told him, ‘Absolutely, go right ahead,’” she said.
On Easter Sunday, Ahuja came to her with good news.
“He said, ‘We have a donor for you,’ and, boy, I really needed to hear that then because that day I felt in my heart that I was giving out, I really did, I thought, ‘I can’t keep fighting.’”
The plasma came from a donor in Chattanooga, TN. She said when she received the antibodies, it felt like lightning in her body. She also described it as an army.
“When I got them it started fighting for me very, very quickly,” she said.
Dr. Robert Rainer, medical director at The Blood Connection said antibodies work to level the playing field.
“The virus is a sprinter,” he said. “It runs a 100-yard dash really fast and what we’re able to do with the antibodies is take someone’s immune system, so it gives that person a 50-yard head start.”
Rainer said antibodies aren’t the answer for everyone, but research from other viruses indicates it can help reduce impact. Antibodies were also used to help fight Ebola.
Three days later, Hardin was out of the hospital.
Wednesday, April 29, she learned she tested negative for the virus.
Now, Hardin is thanking her anonymous donor and is hoping others step in to save lives like hers.
“Thank you for saving my life,” she said. “Because I know how I felt, I felt my life slipping away.”
Prisma Health and The Blood Connection are urging anyone who has recovered from COVID-19, especially people with blood types B and AB to call The Blood Connection at 864-751-1168.
For more information on how you can donate, click here.
Additional coronavirus resources:
- Tracking COVID-19 curve of cases, deaths in the Carolinas, Georgia
- Latest update on coronavirus cases, latest headlines in Carolinas, Georgia
- COVID-19 maps of Carolinas, Georgia: Latest coronavirus cases by county
Sign up for WYFF News 4 coronavirus daily newsletter
