MADISON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — UW Health officials are studying how plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients can help those who are currently ill, and so far, the results are looking good.
Thirty one patients were looked at in the study. One of them was Lona Towsley, from Acova, who was infected with the virus back in April.
“As the night went on I started having really bad chills,” Towsley said.
Those “allergies” turned out to be COVID-19.
It didn’t take long for the symptoms to get worse.
“When they took me to the ICU, it was to the point where I felt like I was being strangled,” Towsley said.
Towsley was eventually put on a ventilator.
“I’m a two-time cancer survivor, so I kind of know a little bit, but I was never afraid I wouldn’t make it through the cancer. It was a little bit different this time,” Towsley said.
Towsley agreed to take part in the UW Health study. She was given plasma from a person who recovered from COVID-19.
“A day-and-a-half after they gave me the plasma, I was coming off the respirator,” she said.
The trial’s findings suggest early treatment is key.
“Giving them that immune boost is giving them what they need to fight off the infection and get them out of the hospital,” Dr. William Hartman, the primary investigator of the study, said.
Dr. Hartman suspects plasma will become a more widely used treatment, but it’s give and take.
“You need people who have recovered from COVID to donate their plasma and get that to patients who need it,” Dr. Hartman said.
Towsley is still recovering from her near month-long battle with COVID.
“I am having to carry oxygen with me,” Towsley said.
She’s grateful for a second chance at life, and she wants other to take COVID-19 as seriously as she does.
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