{"id":17982,"date":"2021-12-16T21:45:27","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T21:45:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/test-southcoast-health-multi.southcoast-health.org\/news\/post-covid-patient-story\/"},"modified":"2026-08-05T10:02:36","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T15:02:36","slug":"post-covid-patient-story","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.southcoast.org\/pt\/news\/post-covid-patient-story\/","title":{"rendered":"Paciente luta contra condi\u00e7\u00f5es p\u00f3s-COVID"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The Center for Disease Control (<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cdc.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">CDC<\/a>) estimates that more than 50 million Americans have been infected with COVID-19 since January 2020, when the first case was reported in the U.S. While some people seem to fully recover, others experience potentially serious post-COVID conditions, also known as long-haul COVID or long COVID.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chris McCarthy, New Bedford&#8217;s WBSM&#8217;s morning radio host, has not only experienced post-COVID conditions but fought for his life as his health deteriorated because of it.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">&#8220;Post-COVID conditions are a wide range of new, returning, or ongoing health problems people can experience four or more weeks after first being infected with the virus that causes COVID-19&#8221; (CDC).&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In March of 2021, Chris started feeling unwell. When his symptoms worsened, he checked into St. Luke&#8217;s Hospital. He remained in the hospital for 50 days, and faced an even longer uphill battle following his discharge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">As a direct result of his COVID-19 infection, Chris experienced a heart attack, multiple strokes, double pneumonia, impaired speech (due to long-term intubation), and a loss of muscle function, affecting his ability to walk. He even needed to be resuscitated with defibrillation.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-st-luke-s-saved-my-life-chris-said-i-died-and-they-brought-me-back\">&#8220;St. Luke&#8217;s saved my life,&#8221; Chris said. &#8220;I died, and they brought me back.&#8221;<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">From death&#8217;s door to rehabilitation, Chris has experienced more than most [relatively] healthy 49-year-olds\u2014demonstrating that COVID-19 can have long-term effects on anyone regardless of age, gender, nationality, ethnicity, or health status.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI had to relearn things that you should be able to do [like walking and caring] for yourself,\u201d Chris said. \u201cIt was a disappointing thing to have happen to you.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Battling worsening post-COVID symptoms since June 2021, Chris re-entered Southcoast\u2019s care at the Acute Inpatient Rehabilitation Center at Charlton Memorial Hospital.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI owe Southcoast Health\u2019s Acute Inpatient Rehabilitation for everything that I can currently do, physically,\u201d Chris said. \u201cI can\u2019t say enough\u2014the attitude, the empathy, the enthusiasm for my recovery has been tremendous.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cAs bad as my health has been, I couldn\u2019t have it any better than my care at Southcoast,\u201d Chris said. \u201cI\u2019m only alive because of Bea (Beatriz Mimoso, MA CCC-SLP, and Speech Pathologist\/Rehab Team Lead) and her staff.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chris\u2019 care at St. Luke\u2019s Hospital and Charlton Memorial Hospital gave him a new lease on life.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe\u2019s done all the hard work,\u201d said Bea. \u201cHe\u2019s has been so motivated and so enthusiastic while doing therapy.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Chris looks back at his journey from St. Luke\u2019s to Rehabilitation at Charlton and shares the important message about vaccination on his road to recovery.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cI wasn\u2019t able to get the vaccine when I contracted COVID (in March). Otherwise, I would have gotten it.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Chris hopes his story can demonstrate the consequences of being unvaccinated and the negative impact it has had on his health.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">COVID-19 vaccines offer effective protection against COVID-19 and help keep adults and children from getting seriously ill. In addition, COVID-19 vaccines can reduce the risk of spreading the virus. Vaccination for anyone ages five years and older can help reduce the risk for those not eligible for vaccination and for family members who may be at high risk for serious illness.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Especially given the recent surge in positive cases, vaccination is the best way to protect yourself, your loved ones, and the community from COVID-19. Southcoast Health urges everyone to get the facts to make an informed decision.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":4306,"template":"","categories":[1231],"class_list":["post-17982","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-patient-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Patient Battles Post-COVID Conditions - Southcoast Health<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Chris McCarthy, New Bedford&#039;s WBSM&#039;s morning radio host, has not only experienced post-COVID conditions but fought for his life.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.southcoast.org\/pt\/news\/post-covid-patient-story\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"pt_PT\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Patient Battles Post-COVID Conditions - 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