Kelsey Townsend was nine months pregnant when she was diagnosed with COVID-19 in October. She gave birth on Nov. 4 while in a medically-induced coma, according to reports.
A Wisconsin woman who was diagnosed with COVID-19 while pregnant, spent more than 70 days on life support and delivered her baby while in a coma, finally got to meet her daughter nearly three months after her birth, according to a report.
“Hi. I love you. I love you so much. Yeah, I've missed you,” Kelsey Townsend, 32, said as she cradled her newborn, Lucy in her arms during their Jan. 27 reunion, the Associated Press reported. “We instantly bonded when we met. She gave me a great big smile and looked at me like she knew exactly who I was and that made me feel just so happy."
Townsend was nine months pregnant when she was diagnosed with COVID-19 in October. She gave birth on Nov. 4 while in a medically-induced coma, ABC 13News reported.
"She was in critical care. I mean, and that best explains it. There were many times that we didn't think that she was gonna make it through the night," her husband, Derek told the news station.
In December, when her health had grown dire, doctors told her husband she would need a double lung transplant to survive and she was put on a waiting list, NBC News reported. On Christmas Eve, her husband delivered the heartbreaking news to his wife.
But within a few weeks, Townsend started making remarkable progress. Her lung function started to show some significant improvement and she was eventually moved out of the intensive care unit. She was also taken off the EMCO machine and a ventilator, NBC reported.
Dr. Daniel P. McCarthy, University of Wisconsin Health cardiothoracic surgeon and director of the ECMO program, who cared for Townsend, said he was not able to pinpoint exactly how her lungs bounced back after battling the virus for so long.
"We really don't completely understand why some people recover and others don't … or what triggers the lungs to all of a sudden start repairing and healing themselves in a way that allows us to make the progress we did,” McCarthy said.
Townsend, who was named "miracle mom" by the hospital's medical team caring for her, is now recovering at home with her family.
"It's gonna be really nice to have her home,” Derek told the AP.
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