A Wisconsin woman recovering from a severe COVID-19 attack hugged her baby daughter for the first time on Thursday, after she gave birth almost three months ago.
Kelsey Townsend was diagnosed with the new virus when she was nine months pregnant last October, according to a press release from UW Health. Hospital officials said the woman was placed in an induced coma, during which doctors gave birth to her daughter, Lucy, by cesarean section on November 4.
While the newborn baby went to the family home, Townsend’s condition quickly deteriorated and she needed 75 days on a ventilator and another machine to support her lungs after release.
“Particularly at first, it was unclear whether we would be able to support her during this and, in the end, there was still a lot of uncertainty about how best to get her out of the hospital and safely take her home.” Dr. Daniel McCarthy, a cardiothoracic surgeon at UW Health and director of the ECMO program, said in a video released by the hospital.
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In December, doctors warned the family that Townsend would need a double lung transplant to survive. Her husband, Derek Townsend, told him the news on Christmas Eve.
“Telling her that she is sick, she will not come home without it … it was difficult,” said Derek Townsend, FOX6 Milwaukee reported. However, a few days after Townsend’s name made the transplant list, she began a miraculous recovery that left her doctors without an explanation.
“We don’t know exactly what allowed his lungs to begin to recover after almost two months of serious illness,” said Dr. Dan McCarthy, a cardiothoracic surgeon at UW Health and director of the ECMO program, according to the escape valve.
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Townsend’s name was removed from the transplant list and she was relocated outside the intensive care unit. Hospital officials said Townsend was discharged from Madison University Hospital on January 27 and finally met with her husband and four children, including Lucy, now almost three months old.
A video released by the hospital shows a doctor taking Kelsey out of the hospital, where she was greeted by a cheering team. She put her hand over her heart and hugged her husband in tears outside the hospital entrance. At home, his son offered him a pint of his favorite ice cream.
“His progress over the past few weeks has been miraculous and, although we don’t know exactly what lies ahead, the possibility of a complete or almost complete recovery, of returning to a normal life is very real,” said McCarthy.