SAN DIEGO COUNTY, Calif — The CDC and medical professionals are calling them long-haulers. They are people who’ve recovered from COVID-19 but still struggle with the lingering effects the virus had on their body.
News 8's LaMonica Peters spoke to one long-hauler in San Diego who says after nearly nine months in recovery, she’s still fighting to get her health and her life back on track.
This survivor says she had no pre-existing conditions that may have caused her to face so many challenges after contracting COVID-19. She says she’s no longer working and continues to discover new side effects that she didn’t have before.
“I got hit hard with it and within a week I was in the hospital in ICU intubated and in a coma for six and a half weeks,” said Monica Yepis, who has been dealing with the aftermath of contracting COVID-19 last year.
Yepis says she contracted the virus while at work in December 2020. She says she had to relearn how to do just about everything after being paralyzed while in a coma and it hasn’t been easy.
Several months after recovering from the virus, she says she still suffers from debilitating ailments.
“Fifty-three percent of my lung capacity is all I have. I’ve lost 40% of my heart function. I have neuropathy in both my feet, from COVID,” Yepis said.
She said her family was a huge support to her throughout the entire ordeal. Her medical care is being covered through her workers' compensation claim and now she just wants to focus on getting better and staying safe during the pandemic. For her, that meant choosing to get vaccinated.
“I went ahead and did it because I will tell you, it’s not something you want to go through. I definitely recommend if you do not get vaccinated, and that’s your choice, please wear your mask, use hand sanitizer, still stay six feet apart from people,” Yepis said.
She says she continues to see several doctors a week but she’s hopeful that she’ll fully recover after having COVID-19.
Yepis also says the doctors still haven’t figured out why the virus attacked her body the way that it did but like other survivors, she says she’s just happy to be alive.
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