Helen's miracle Covid recovery from ICU

Helen Auer, my Aunty, would like people to know about her miracle covid recovery, and if they can help financially, it would be greatly appreciated. Helen will need help with the following things for her future: wheelchair, walking aids, car, home modifications, in-home care, meals, cleaning, bathing and physical therapy, occupational therapy and hydrotherapy. Helen is blessed to have a loving husband looking after her throughout this ordeal. From Cardiac arrest resulting in ICU in Canada on a Ventilator with kidney failure, arm amputation, learning to breathe, talk and move her remaining arm again to travelling to Brisbane still hours from home and unable to walk or move her legs. Below is her story of the last three months:

As many of you know, Helen and Trevor came to visit Sallie her only child and experience a Summer in Canada this past June. While here, Helen contracted the omicron variant of Covid-19. A few years ago, she was diagnosed with an auto-immune disease that was well under control, managed and did not affect everyday life. She was given the all-clear to fly from her family doctor before leaving Australia. Unfortunately, a week after being in Canada (while travelling to Alberta for a road trip), she started to show minor symptoms of the virus. She was admitted to the hospital, unable to walk, struggling to breathe and in excruciating pain. She was then transferred to Calgary hospital, a larger, more equipped facility. Helen was admitted into the emergency, but overnight her symptoms rapidly progressed. Unfortunately, her heart stopped for 10 minutes. The emergency staff administered CPR to keep blood flowing to her brain. She was placed in a medically induced paralysis and on life support with a breathing tube. Helen suffered significant blood clots, and due to lack of circulation, she lost her left arm above the elbow. Her prognosis was unknown, and Calgary hospital ICU nurses and doctors described it as the worst outcome of an omicron variant case they’d seen. Unfortunately, Covid caused a series of chain medical reactions.

Helen was in the ICU for five weeks. She was placed on a dialysis machine as her muscles released proteins and contaminated her blood, resulting in kidney failure. Her circulation and oxygen levels were abysmal. Unfortunately, her right calf muscle died, and she had to undergo surgery to remove the dead muscle. There is still a chance she will lose her right leg also or possibly a better outcome of a skin graft over the open wound and missing muscle. She developed pneumonia and was bleeding internally while in ICU. Once her vitals and symptoms were stable, she was brought to a normal ward a few weeks ago. There have been many complications, infections and setbacks, but she has remained in good spirits throughout the entire ordeal. She will go through a long recovery process of physical therapy sessions back in Australia as well as the surgery on her right leg. It will take months for her muscles to regain strength, and it’s still unknown if she will be able to walk properly again.

Travel insurance arranged for a repatriation flight back to Brisbane two weeks ago. Helen's length of stay in Brisbane hospital is unknown, and we’re not sure when she will return to Bundaberg. Her immune system has been severely compromised, and any virus she contracts from here on out may result in the same or similar outcome.

She has received amazing care from all the doctors, nurses, surgeons and other medical teams here in Canada but Helen and Trevor are both pleased to be returning home. This isn’t a story to make people feel sorry for her; rather, it's so everyone knows what happened. Hopefully, she doesn't have to tell the whole story each time, and when you see her, you may happen to notice something is missing. She has joked about how authentic her pirate costumes will now be for Halloween each year, completed with a hook on her missing arm

Since arriving in Brisbane, Helen has had a skin graft to close the area on her leg. We don't know if this has been successful yet. She has also been diagnosed with hearing loss and will have more tests in the future. We hope Helen can learn to walk again with therapy and your help; the future ahead is bright.