According to a local report, a 23-year-old nurse from Tampa Bay, Florida, was left paralyzed after she contracted a disease that was probably caused by the new coronavirus.
In July, Desmon Silva suddenly stopped breathing and was rushed to Mease Countryside Hospital in Safety Harbor. Silva was lowered from the neck down and placed on a ventilator. He was later transferred to Mass General in Boston where he could be treated better, according to a GoFundMe in his name.
Silva has many months of recovery ahead of him, but his family says the 23-year-old ‘stays full of life’, according to the GoFundMe.
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Silva has been diagnosed with acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM), a condition that is often ‘characterized by a short but widespread attack of inflammation in the brain and spinal cord that damages myelin – the protective covering of nerve fibers’, according to The National Institute of Neurological disorders and stroke (NINDS). ADEM usually occurs secondary to viral or bacterial infections, and the symptoms of ADEM usually appear quickly according to the NINDS.
Two months before he developed ADEM, Silva tested positive for COVID-19, but recovered, according to local news station Bay News 9.
“It was difficult. You are in a way defenseless,” Silva’s father, Jose Silva, told the news station. “Seeing him smile and joke actually gives us strength to continue his recovery.”
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On Monday, after months in the hospital, Silva returned to Florida on a free flight on Jet ICU, an air ambulance service in Tampa.
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Silva has many months of recovery ahead of him, but his family says the 23-year-old “stays full of life” according to the GoFundMe.
“We focus on one day at a time, but I’ll be lying to you when I tell you we do not think about the future,” Silva’s mother, Barbara Bonnett, told local news station WTVT. “He firmly believes that things will happen in his favor.”