A Temple University student says she experienced a life-threatening heart condition weeks after recovering from a mild case of Covid-19.
In a Facebook post from Dec. 8, Madie Neville writes that she returned to her family home for the Thanksgiving holiday following a diagnosis of Covid-19 in late October.
“I was feeling completely normal and was able to put my COVID experience behind me,” Neville wrote. “After all, I am a twenty year old girl in good health. I am the subset of the population that is supposed to be best equipped to able to handle COVID.”
Neville, who lives in Philadelphia and is now 21, said that she tested negative before returning home. But soon after, she was hit by a second wave of symptoms.
That’s right, you heard me correctly, I was in congestive heart failure at age 20. I’ll say it one more time for effect: congestive heart failure, age 20.
“I experienced such intense chest pain, shortness of breath, and a slew of other horrible symptoms that came on suddenly and as a complete surprise,” she wrote.
In her post, Neville said that she was eventually airlifted to a Philadelphia hospital where she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure.
“I have been hospitalized for the past nine days, where I struggled everyday to do even the most menial tasks like going to the bathroom and showering on my own, brushing my own teeth and hair, or even walking 10 steps,” she wrote.
In an interview with the Philadelphia Inquirer, Neville said the diagnosis she received from doctors was myocarditis, a swelling of the heart muscle that has been linked to Covid-19.
Recently, doctors have raised the question of whether athletes should be required to undergo additional screenings before returning to gameplay following recovery from the disease because of the risk of myocarditis.
Neville did not immediately respond to an NBC News request for comment.
She wrote that she hoped that her story might serve as a “reality check” for some of her peers who “take their health for granted.”
“I know that I did,” Neville wrote. “I believed that my youth and health would allow me to make it through any run in I had with the virus relatively unscathed.”
“However, as someone who has been on the ass end of it, I wish I had chosen inconvenience over jeopardizing my health. I wish I had been more careful in my social interactions prior to contracting COVID, to save myself, my family, and my friends the pain of uncertainty regarding whether or not this illness would kill me.”
“This has been my reality this week, and you can rest assured I simply could not care less which restaurants are open anymore. … I am just thankful to be alive at home with my family,” Neville wrote.
Source: | This article originally belongs to Nbcnews.com
