Rich Beckerson began to get sick with symptoms that looked like COVID-19 in mid-March, but could not be tested to confirm that he was infected with the new coronavirus.

For two weeks, Beckerson’s fever soared up and down. On March 29, his daughter took her breathlessly to St. Joseph Mercy Ann Arbor Hospital.

Beckerson (74 years old) from Dearborn Heights immediately tested the virus and found it to be positive a few days later. On arrival, he was in the intensive care unit of a hospital, breathing on a ventilator, and the heat was so high that the nurse had to pack his body with ice. His doctor tried many interventions, including the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, but did not help.

But on Sunday, Beckerson started to turn around. The doctor gave Beckerson Plasma recovered and donated by someone with COVID-19. He became one of the first hospitalized COVID-19 patients in Michigan to undergo treatment that has been used for over a century to overcome other viruses.

“My dad has a fever every day since March 16th,” said Brett Beckerson, one of Rich Beckerson’s six children. “Today, 12 hours after he took plasma, he had no fever, his breathing had improved significantly, and he was much more careful. It may have been a time to recover naturally. I think it played an important role. “

Mr Beckerson left the intensive care unit on Sunday afternoon, his son said.

Doctors and researchers are recruiting Those who have recovered from COVID-19 According to experts, donating plasma to the blood is because it contains antibodies that can interfere with people who fight the virus in the absence of a cure.

The highly contagious virus causes a global pandemic, infecting about 2.4 million people and killing about 165,000 people, Johns Hopkins Coronavirus Resource Center. In Michigan, the number of COVID-19 cases is 31,424 and the virus killed 2,391 lives People as of sunday.

Researchers and doctors are trying to use plasma from donors to help patients in parallel with clinical trials. As a result, use and potential recovery are not just examples.

Nigel Paneth — Professor of Epidemiology, Biostatistics and Pediatrics at Michigan State University National COVID-19 Convalescent Plasma Project — He said he had some interest in the state of Michigan in setting up clinical trials investigating plasma use in COVID-19 patients from Ascension and the Henry Ford Health System. But he wasn’t sure if any work had begun.

“This could be (the incident) St. Joe Marcy’s first administration in Michigan,” Panes said.

In the St. Joseph Mercy Health System, doctors use it to Mayo Clinic Coordinates Expanded Access to Convalescent Plasma Programs. Earlier this month, the Food and Drug Administration designated Mayo Clinic as the leading agency to provide coordinated access to curative and convalescent plasma for hospitalized patients with severe or life-threatening COVID-19.

“One thing at COVID is struggling with effective therapies. Many trials have been done on many drug therapies,” said St Joseph Marcy, Head of Infection Prevention and Control. Said Dr Anuragumarani. Medical system.

“Hopefully, convalescent plasma will be a treatment that we can learn more and provide to many patients not only in our health system, but in other health systems as well.”

According to Malani, there are reports of using convalescent plasma in patients with COVID-19 in other areas, such as China and the US in New York and Texas.

Beckerson is one of 11 patients in the St. Joseph Mercy system participating in the program. This program includes patients at the Ann Arbor location as well as patients at hospital Pontiac, Livonia, and Muskegon locations.

Brett Beckerson said he heard about recovery plasma on Twitter, but other families knew about it from media reports. They asked Facebook to donate plasma to their friends who had the virus, and people in cities like Chicago and New York wanted to donate. I don’t know who donated the plasma to his dad, but he will never forget the phone call in his car saying he was on his way to the hospital for his dad.

Brett Beckerson, 34, said he hoped his father would recover and see the University of Michigan Wolverine University play football, one of his father’s favorite past. And for his next wedding.

“I hope this plasma provided the extra support my dad needed to fight the virus,” said Beckerson of Washington, DC. “So my dad will come and be one of the few survivors on the ventilator who can recover and go home.”

On Sunday night, Beckerson deepened his hopes after the nurse called his father’s ears and said good night with his mom. He told his father that he loved himself.

“I heard he sounded like us too,” said Beckerson after his father hadn’t spoken for weeks.

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