COVID Patient Stories

With much of the country still in pandemic crisis mode, powerful patient stories continue to resonate with people everywhere. The Society of Thoracic Surgeons is highlighting two particularly interesting stories from COVID survivors who were on ECMO for months, with one patient eventually underdoing a double lung transplantation.

• Reynaldo Valdez shares his extraordinary COVID-19 journey, which included months in the hospital, cardiac arrest, stroke, and a double lung transplant performed at Houston Methodist. Mr. Valdez also shares inspiring details about his will to live and his continued recovery.
• Maria Young spent 130 days in The Johns Hopkins Hospital—69 on ECMO and more than 100 intubated. She shares her amazing story of survival and recovery, which has become the inspiration for the nonprofit organization, “Maria’s Miracle.”

Dr. Tom MacGillivray (Houston Methodist) and Dr. Errol Bush (Johns Hopkins Medicine) are available to speak with the media about these patients, their battles with COVID-19, as well as the treatments and recoveries.