30-something Ironman nearly killed by Covid-19

[dflprincess]

Last edited Tue Apr 21, 2020, 02:43 PM - Edit history (1)

This was the first case in Minnesota to need intensive care. Remember him when someone tells you only old people get this

https://www.startribune.com/minnesota-man-is-an-ironman-covid-19-nearly-killed-him/569761222/

The COVID-19 mystery of Ben O’Donnell, a 30-something Ironman athlete, remains as baffling today as it did March 10 — when Minnesotans learned the state’s first coronavirus case needing intensive care was someone in his prime.

State health investigators were perplexed, given the virus’ history of hitting the sick and elderly the hardest.

Minnesotans lost hope, because being young and healthy were not surefire shields against COVID-19.

“It made everything a lot more real,” said Haley Kramer, an intensive care nurse who treated O’Donnell, “because he was me, he was my husband, he was a lot of my close friends and family. Just a young, healthy guy.”

Odds of recovery were a coin flip after COVID-19 ravaged his lungs and forced doctors to place him on a ventilator and an ECMO heart-lung pump to keep oxygen-rich blood flowing in his body.

Today, he is home in Anoka County, still recovering but offering hope to a state awaiting the peak of this pandemic.

Much more at the link.

[bullwinkle428]

1. K&R - incredibly scary story that I had read last night.

[lapfog_1]

2. The thing to drill into anyone under the age of 40

is that this guy, while it looks like he will live, will never compete in an Ironman competition again.

He will be lucky to not be short of breath climbing a flight of stairs.

And, for the rest of his life, he has to be in fear of colds, flu, or any other respiratory illness.

[Blue Owl]

3. K&R for exposure

Freaky stuff, that virus...

[tblue37]

4. K&R for visibility. nt