Coronavirus: First Iowa patient to receive plasma for COVID-19 treatment returns home

DES MOINES, Iowa — The first patient in Iowa to receive plasma from someone who has recovered from the coronavirus is now home from the hospital.

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Lance Becker, 41, spent a month at UnityPoint in Des Moines after testing positive for COVID-19, KCCI reported.

Doctors confirmed Becker was nearly suffocating from the coronavirus, the television station reported.

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“They did an X-ray, and (the doctor is) like, ‘Your lungs are under attack. You are in big, big trouble,’” Becker told KCCI.

Becker told the television station he spent two weeks on a ventilator.

“I do remember having the ventilator in,” Becker told KCCI. “It’s kind of a mix between choking and drowning.”

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Becker received the plasma on April 10. Three days later, he said X-rays showed his lungs were clearing up, KCCI reported.

“They saw an improvement almost immediately,” Becker told the television station.

“It was really exciting to see him off oxygen and doing well,” Leyla Best, an infectious disease specialist at UnityPoint, told KCCI.

Doctors released Becker from the hospital Thursday.

“It’s very difficult to believe that I am back home with my wife,” Becker told KCCI.

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Becker said he believes the plasma he received saved his life.

“You can only help people get out of the position I was in if you donate,” Becker told KCCI. “So, that’s definitely what I plan to do, And I hope other people out there will look at doing the same.”

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So far, 13 people in Iowa have donated plasma and 12 more have signed up to do so, the television station reported.