Newark Hospital Saves ‘Coding’ Girl Who Has Virus Antibodies

NEWARK, NJ — A 12-year old New Jersey girl is alive and in recovery after almost losing her life to a blood clot, which may possibly be related to the coronavirus, hospital officials in Newark said.

On Tuesday, Jissel Rosario was discharged from Newark Beth Israel Medical Center, marking the end of her harrowing, three-week stay.

Rosario first arrived at the hospital on April 21 with an “incredibly swollen and blue” left leg, administrators said. Doctors soon discovered that there were an extremely large, venous clot, which could have broken at any time and caused cardiac arrest.

And that’s exactly what happened at 5 p.m. on a Tuesday afternoon in the hospital’s pediatric catheterization lab, when the 12-year-old “coded,” administrators said.

While doctors were attempting to remove the clot from Rosario’s leg, it went into her lungs and caused her heart to stop. Newark Beth Israel staff leaped into action and performed CPR for nearly an hour, before putting Rosario on a heart and lung bypass machine.

A heartbreaking game of see-saw lasted for three days. As the machine kept Rosario alive, a full team of surgeons, specialists and other health care experts tirelessly worked to make sure she’d make it back home.

The tipping point came after doctors used ultrasound technology to inject clot busting medication directly into the area, administrators said.

Within another three days, Rosario’s heart was working on its own. Her family – and the entire medical team – got another positive sign when she began talking and laughing, allaying concerns that her time spent hooked up to the machine would affect her brain.

Meanwhile, her wound care team worked overtime to make sure that the 12-year-old wouldn’t lose her leg. Rosario underwent hyperbaric therapy every day to regain circulation.

Thankfully, the therapy paid off; Rosario is going home with both legs, the hospital announced Tuesday.

Her experience and recovery was a big morale boost for the hospital.

“Her spirit and the faith of her parents have been a motivating force for the entire team during this difficult time,” Newark Beth Israel administrators said.

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• See related article: 6 Coronavirus Recovery Stories In Essex County

ANTIBODIES

Recently, staff at Newark Beth Israel made another discovery: Rosario has coronavirus antibodies.

“Jissel tested negative multiple times for COVID-19, but today, her antibody test came back positive,” hospital administrators said Tuesday. “While doctors cannot say that the virus caused her condition, it does appear that COVID-19 is causing blood clotting issues in patients.”

READ MORE: NJ Coronavirus Updates (Here's What You Need To Know)

There are two types of tests for the new coronavirus: viral tests and antibody tests. The former indicates if a person currently has an infection. The latter may indicate that a person has had an infection in the past and has developed antibodies to the disease, according to the Centers For Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

The CDC states:

“An antibody test may not be able to show if you have a current infection, because it can take one to three weeks to make antibodies after symptoms occur. We do not know yet if having antibodies to the virus can protect someone from getting infected with the virus again, or how long that protection might last.”

Recently, the World Health Organization said there is no evidence that people who have caught the disease in the past or have antibodies in their systems are immune from the new coronavirus.

• See related article: Belleville Mayor Has Coronavirus Antibodies; Here's What It Means

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