An unvaccinated mother and her husband decided to pay the ultimate tribute to the doctor who saved her life from COVID-19 by naming their new baby after him.
Parents Diana and Chris Crouch welcomed their son in November 2021 and named their son Cameron, after Dr. Cameron Dezfulian of the Texas Children's Pavilion for Women, who made sure that Diana would be cured of the virus.
Diana told the hosts of "Good Morning America" that she was 18 weeks pregnant when she tested positive for COVID-19 and had to be intubated in August 2021. She and her husband, Chris Crouch, came back from their anniversary trip in Las Vegas with Diana experiencing headaches and exhaustion upon their return home.
Her doctor advised Diana to drink lots of water because she could be dehydrated. She also took Tylenol, but her symptoms did not subside.
After talking to her doctor again, Diana was advised to head to the emergency room as she might be positive for COVID-19. Diana and Chris have not been vaccinated, but the mom contracted the virus before. In an interview with Today, Diana said she did not expect to get COVID-19 a second time.
A Unique Situation
A week after her positive test and medical advice from the doctors, Diana returned to the hospital as her condition worsened. The family decided to move and admit her at the Texas Children's Pavilion for Women under the care of Dezfulian.
Dezfulian said that Diana's entire lungs were impacted by the virus when she came to their hospital. She was also in a "unique situation" because she could not yet deliver her baby. The doctor said that had her pregnancy been further along, they could have done an early delivery to help Diana fight COVID-19 better.
When Diana's condition did not improve under the ventilator, Dezfulian sought permission from Chris to put her under extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) as a last resort. It was also her best chance to survive the virus.
The ECMO worked to pump blood out of her heart to oxygenate the lungs and release carbon dioxide. Essentially, the ECMO, which was only available in a limited number of hospitals, did the job for her lungs for eight weeks.
However, in those weeks, Diana suffered several complications like blood clotting, seizures, heart attacks, and a stroke. Dezfulian kept a close watch on her daily. On the third day following her stroke, Diana woke up, and then her condition slowly improved.
At 31 weeks of her pregnancy, her team of doctors said they could finally do a C-section without any risks to the fetus. Though Diana delivered a healthy baby boy, Cameron needed oxygen support for one week. Fortunately, he was discharged soon after. The mom, however, had to stay for another month at the hospital to fully recover from COVID-19 and was discharged two days before Christmas.
Dezfulian said it was a miracle Diana survived and didn't need a lung transplant despite her ordeal.
Concerns About COVID-19 Vaccine for Pregnant Women
Diana said that they were initially concerned about the effects of the vaccine on the fetus. However, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has recommended vaccination for pregnant women to reduce the risk of developing severe complications from the virus.
"I ended up getting so much more and I exposed my child to so many things that I would have never thought," Diana said of her hard realization about not getting vaccinated while pregnant. The couple has since gotten their COVID-19 shots.
