Downingtown Woman’s Plasma May Have Helped Her Aunt, 63, Beat Coronavirus

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Image of Marisa Leuzzi via Virtua Health.

Renee Bannister, who became gravely ill with the coronavirus and spent three weeks on a ventilator, may have beat the deadly virus thanks to plasma provided by her niece, Downingtown resident Marisa Leuzzi, writes Tom Avril for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

Using a treatment that dates to the late 19th century, doctors infused Bannister with plasma harvested from Leuzzi, who was previously infected with the virus but has successfully recovered.

The 63-year-old woman received the treatment on April 3 and has since been moved out of intensive care at Virtua Voorhees Hospital in New Jersey. She continues to improve and is expected to move to a rehab facility within the next few days. Her goal is to be home before late May, just in time for her wedding anniversary.

Whether her niece’s plasma helped her recover is still unknown, but physicians all over the country are trying to figure out if this could be a viable treatment for the virus.

Leuzzi is doing her part to help, as she has donated plasma to help one more patient who has been successfully taken off the ventilator after the treatment.

Read more in The Philadelphia Inquirer here.

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