WARREN, Ohio (WJW) – A local teenager who survived a challenging battle with COVID-19 is speaking out.
In the matter of days, a once-healthy honor student and cheerleader was suddenly fighting for her life.
“I just felt achy all over. I didn’t have as big of an appetite as I usually did,” said Sandy Rose, of Warren.
Sandy tested positive for COVID-19 in the spring. At the time, she was a junior at Howland High School.
“I felt tired all the time,” said Sandy.
Days, passed but Sandy just kept getting worse. It got to the point that her parents decided to call 911 and Sandy was taken to the emergency department at a nearby hospital.
“It just kind of brings back some of the emotions of what we went through, what she went through,” said her father, Terry Rose.
According to Terry, Sandy floated in and out of consciousness after being transported to the Cleveland Clinic intensive care unit. It was there that Sandy was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and had experienced diabetic ketoacidosis.
She also suffered from septic shock due to a previous injury.
These conditions were only made worse by COVID-19.
“The main reason they wanted to send her to Cleveland was her liver numbers and that she might need a transplant,” said Terry.
According to Terry, doctors said Sandy’s body was shutting down due to the multi-system inflammatory syndrome in children, or MIS-C.
Once her numbers went down and her condition stabilized, Sandy was taken to the Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital for Rehabilitation.
Her father said she wasn’t able to walk or even sit up without assistance.
“It felt like everything got flipped around over one weekend,” said Sandy.
After much rehab and physical therapy, Sandy was able to go home after eight weeks away.
“After going through everything, I realized there is so much we don’t know about viruses and new strands of viruses,” said Sandy.
Sandy has since returned to school but is no longer cheerleading.