WHEATFIELD, NY (WKBW) — A Wheatfield mother is making a desperate plea for plasma for her daughter. She is on a ventilator at Mercy Hospital in south Buffalo, where she fighting against the coronavirus.
But a plasma match could be the key for her recovery.
“They've tried basically everything at this point. They are going to try plasma donations for her,” explained Lori Salvatore.
Salvatore stood under sunny skies Monday outside her Wheatfield home to talk with us on FaceTime.
Salvatore is remaining very positive about her daughter's condition.
21-year-old Tatiana Moore was diagnosed with the coronavirus April 10th and was placed on a ventilator last week.
“You caught me on a good day. There's days I lay in bed and sob uncontrollably,” Salvatore remarked.
Moore was transported from St. Joseph’s Hospital in Cheektowaga to Mercy hospital where doctors are performing a procedure called ECMO. It is only conducted at Mercy and Buffalo General Hospital.
“Like dialyses for your lungs, it takes blood out of her, it recycles it adds oxygen to it and takes out carbon dioxides and then gets put back into her, so it's like they’re recycling her blood right now,” described Salvatore.
A health care team is looking for the right plasma match, which has become a promising treatment for COVID patients.
But not everyone can be a donor.
“They need people who are proven COVID positive and people who are two weeks out into their recovery,” Salvatore noted.
Antibodies from some one who already had COVID actually help the patient fight the virus.
Salvatore and her family were under quarantine by the Niagara County Health Department. It ended, but they remain at home as a precaution.
“What is your biggest warning to the public,” asked Buckley. “It’s not so much a warning as a cooperation issue. You’re doing good staying home. Everybody that has been quarantined and just feel like they're at their wits end, I ask you, in my daughter's name, stay faithful to that quarantine,” Salvatore replied.
Salvatore is only allowed to see her daughter through FaceTime conducted by a nurse. For now, this mother is remaining very hopeful her daughter will recover and come back home soon.
Salvatore said she is depending on her faith and on Sunday she “hovered in prayer” at a safe distance with friends.
“We have days that are very emotional, days we can’t function and then we put a timeframe on our sorrow and then get up, put on our boxing gloves and fight along with her. We know she’s coming home. We speak it into existence, so that's our mantra — Team Tatiana,” declared Salvatore.
Catholic Health is team with Roswell and is participating in a Mayo Clinic trial for convalescent plasma donated by recovered COVID-19 patients. You can click here to Catholic Health's webpage to learn more or you can call Catholic Health for screening information 716-706-2120.
