April 19 Reads

A man learned the hard way about how serious COVID-19 is.  Unfortunately, he isn't alive to tell the tale.
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A young man nearly lost his life to COVID-19, despite being in a low-risk category except, of course, the fact he is a man.

“I was close as you could be to checking out without checking out, and here I am,” O’Donnell said. “I want to give hope to those that are going through it, those that have gone through it, and those that are not seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.”

O’Donnell, 38, remains an anomaly in Minnesota, which on Saturday, had 2,213 COVID-19 cases and 121 deaths. The average age of confirmed cases is 54 years old and the average age of those hospitalized is 64.

Even among COVID-19 cases on ECMO, O’Donnell beat the odds. Only 21 of 65 patients globally have survived after ECMO.

“The reason you’re putting people on it is there is nothing left to do for them,” said Dr. Jeffrey Chipman, a critical-care leader for M Health Fairview and the University of Minnesota Medical Center, which has treated two of the world’s 21 ECMO survivors.

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