‘My wife said it saved my life:' Coronavirus survivor received plasma donation

ajc.com

DAYTON- Justin Morgan, 38, of Riverside was on a ventilator for four days and spent nine days in the hospital with coronavirus. Now he is donating plasma to help treat other patients who are suffering from COVID-19.

Morgan works as a Clinical Nutrition Dietic tech for a long-term care facility. He is also a personal trainer and a weightlifting coach. He has donated blood several times to the Community Blood Center in Dayton. He didn’t expect that he would experience a severe case of COVID-19 when he tested positive in June.

After he started experiencing nausea, he checked into Miami Valley Hospital where he was eventually put on a ventilator.

Local blood bank prepares to collect COVID-19 survivors’ plasma

“I didn’t interpret myself having trouble breathing,” Morgan said. “Being young and healthy, I wasn’t interpreting the symptoms, but my oxygen was very low. When I was intubated, The ventilator was doing 70 percent of breathing for me.”

Morgan was in a sedated coma when his wife, Anita, gave permission for him to have a convalescent plasma transfusion.

“My wife said it saved my life, that’s her exact words,” Morgan said. “I seemed to respond really well.”

While Morgan said he is slowly recovering, he said he struggles with breathing when he is showering with hot water. He lost 25 lbs and has difficulty walking in a straight line and experiences a few other symptoms.

“I’ll probably return to exercise but not weightlifting. I’m trying to walk every day to strengthen myself before I return to work,” he said.

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