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Since COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, we have learned that the virus can affect individuals in different ways. Although some people may experience only mild symptoms (or no symptoms at all), the virus has caused more than 2.8 million deaths worldwide.
In an interview with TODAY, Colby Vondenstein shared his experience with COVID-19 – which resulted in two organ transplants.
According to Vondenstein’s wife, Tori, their nightmare began days after the couple and their three children celebrated Christmas with close relatives in Texas. The 24-year-old test was positive for COVID-19 and started showing traditional symptoms; fever, body aches and cough. But his fever subsided quickly – apparently a positive indication of his recovery.
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“You read about the symptoms, like, these are common symptoms,” said Tori TODAY. “He wasn’t really short of breath at first.”
Initially, his strategy was to “let [the virus] follow your course “and hope things will gradually improve. However, Vondenstein’s symptoms started to get worse and Tori decided it was time for a trip to the emergency room.
“Two days later, he was at Baytown Methodist Hospital fighting for his life,” she recalled. “They were giving steroids to try to help the lungs, but they couldn’t do much because their kidneys were failing. They declared that he would not survive.”
On January 11, he was transferred to Houston Methodist hospital, where things got worse in a particularly aggressive manner.
“I wasn’t really scared until I woke up, and they had all these tubes inside me, and I didn’t know what was going on,” said Vondenstein.
Dr. Howard Huang, a pulmonologist at Houston Methodist, said TODAY that when Vondenstein arrived at the hospital, he was already with kidney failure and experiencing “severe breathing difficulty”. Huang even described his condition as a “head scratch” and placed Vondenstein on extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO), often referred to as extracorporeal life support.
“He became totally dependent on ECMO and initially required very strong sedation,” said Huang TODAY. “The problem then became: you have a person who is now stuck in the ECMO machine with no real viable solution to get out.”
Vondenstein stayed in the hospital for two months, at which point Huang believed that neither his lung nor kidney function would improve, no matter what measures they took. His service team reduced the losses and put him on the waiting list for the replacement of both bodies.
“This is obviously a very serious illness in a desperate situation,” explained Huang. “We usually like to do the transplant as a more controlled process, rather than in emergency conditions. He really didn’t have much time with these devices. We felt that he had a reasonable chance of getting through it. The transplant is done for COVID-19 in just a few cases. Worldwide, there are probably less than 100 cases that have been made to date. “
As Vondenstein and his family waited anxiously for matches, Tori remembers the nurses doing “everything they could” to keep her husband alive.
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“On February 27, I arrived that morning, and the doctor stopped me in the hall and just said that it is getting more and more difficult and we are running out of time, like days. To see him go through this and watch him literally struggle to live, I can’t even describe it, “she said.” It’s the worst pain I think I’ve ever felt. I can only describe it as watching someone being tortured. “
Fortunately, adequate results were found for a lung and kidney transplant, and Vondenstein underwent both surgeries on February 28. After two months of unconsciousness and loss of consciousness and four weeks after the operation, he finally managed to get up from his hospital bed and take a few steps.
“It’s nice to be able to go out and take a few steps again,” he said TODAY. “I honestly don’t think (the doctors) thought I was going to recover so quickly. They all looked shocked when they saw me do it.”
Huang said Vondenstein is on a fast track to recovery and predicts he will spend a few more weeks in the hospital before being considered “out of danger”.
Vondenstein and his wife decided to share their story in an effort to raise awareness of the potential gravity of COVID-19 and raise money for their medical bills. Tori urges young people to “just be more cautious”.
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“We don’t go out to eat, we don’t do all of that. But even if you get sick, be more careful with your signs and symptoms, know when to seek help or see a doctor. You don’t even realize it happens to someone you love as the virus can be deadly, “she continued.
“I don’t wish that on anyone,” said Vondenstein. “It is definitely difficult to go through what I am going through.”
A GoFundMe was created to help the couple with medical expenses. The couple raised more than $ 15,000 with almost $ 50,000 to go to achieve their goal.