A single mom in Florida’s sweet reunion with her two children was captured on video more than three weeks after she was first admitted to the hospital to be treated for coronavirus.
Ruthie Ramirez tested positive for COVID-19 on April 7, and was admitted to the intensive care unit and placed on a ventilator, WFOR reported.
For the next three weeks, she stayed a patient, separated from her two young children as her family put their hope in a new Stem Cell Clinical Trial From Restem led by Dr. Guenther Koehne at Miami Cancer Institute.
Ramirez credits the Stem Cells trial with saving her life, and on Friday, she was discharged from Baptist Health South Florida having fully recovered.
Video shared by the hospital to Instagram shows Ramirez being wheeled out in a wheelchair as her coworkers chant her name and her kids come running over to give their mom a big, lingering hug.
“Single mother of two, Ruthie, is greeted by her coworkers and reunited with her children after three weeks in intensive care fighting #COVID19,” the post said. “She was one of the first patients in the U.S. successfully treated with umbilical cord-derived stem cells in a clinical trial led by Dr. Guenther Koehne at Miami Cancer Institute.”
Ramirez is one of three patients for whom the treatment has proven successful, and she told WFOR that she believes it“definitely” saved her life.
Within days of the infusion, Ramirez and other patients showed a reduction of their oxygen requirements from 100 percent to less than 50 percent, as well as a “significant reduction in levels of various key circulating inflammatory markers,” the outlet reported.
When Ramirez was admitted in early April, she gave her sister power of attorney — so when doctors approached the family about the FDA-approved trial, she knew she had to try.
“I’m a person who jumps. I jump with hope with the best outcome there is on the other side,” Ramirez told WFOR. “Ithink [my sister] took that into consideration with my characteristic and said, ‘Ruth would probably do this.’”
A GoFundMe page for Ramirez to help cover her medical bills, rent and groceries have so far raised more than $12,000.
“She is very blessed for everyone who has had her in [their] prayers and helped her during this rough time in her life,” the page reads. “Ruthie has a long road for recovery, and we continue to ask to keep her in your prayers.”
As of Tuesday afternoon, there have been at least 37,431 cases and 1,470 deaths attributed to coronavirus in Florida, according to The New York Times. There have been at least 1.1 million cases and 70,338 deaths in the U.S.
Source: https://people.com/human-interest/fla-mom-reunites-2-kids-month-hospital-coronavirus/