Diana Berrent, a prominent photographer from New York, has been applauded for her heroic act of donating her recovered plasma after recovering from the current worldwide struggle to those who are still suffering . She shared her thoughts of sharing her recovered plasma as antibody.
She feels she is one of the lucky ones as she only experienced mild symptoms when she contracted the viral infection.
During that period, she followed the public health guidelines and she isolated herself from her husband and two children. She also reduced contact to a bare minimum and refrained from sharing food or frequenting high traffic areas within her own home.
Scientists who are working round the clock trying to help the people who are suffering from the pandemic believe they have finally found a way to help victims out. They have developed a method of introducing antibodies developed by survivors who have recovered after 21 or 28 days post discharge from hospital. They specifically transfuse the plasma from the blood which is the yellowish compound where the antibodies are present to patients which are currently suffering from the virus. Doctors administer the treatment by extracting and injecting the antibodies into hospitalised patients suffering from the pandemic.
When Berrant heard the news of a plasma transfusion that could aid sick patients in their fight, she immediately reached out and volunteered to donate her blood plasma without any hesitation at a program organised by New York Columbia University Irving Medical Centre.
The 32 minutes procedure is effortless and easy, One just essentially needs to lie on a chair to donate their blood. The blood is then placed in a machine which automatically isolates the plasma from which the antibodies are present. A single plasma donation can save about 3 to 4 lives.
There is a group in the US named Survivor Corps which volunteers who have recovered can contribute. They need only register their names and after the medical check to confirm they tested negative, can gain eligibility to donate their plasmas which can help hospitalized victims. There is even a website launched recently to provide daily updates about the number of contributors whom have donated their blood.