Now that Paul’s recovered, he’s helping others battling the virus by offering up his plasma, abundant with the antibodies that combated off the coronavirus. “This is an emergency situation investigational brand-new treatment that the FDA has simply put into play, and we’re extremely fortunate to be doing this in Sacramento,” said Drew Fowler, Marketing & Communications Supervisor at Vitalant.The couple was at the Vitalant lab in Sacramento Thursday where Paul made his plasma donation. “It takes a person’s plasma who has actually recuperated from the coronavirus and then that plasma is isolated and cleansed and then reestablished into a client who has an active disease,” Kaushal stated.
A Carmichael male who was the first to check positive for coronavirus by the county public health department is now using hope by contributing his blood as a form of treatment.
Paul Peterson, 75, is back in the news again. He initially made headlines in February when he and his spouse Alice were on board the Grand Princess Cruise Ship. Paul began developing symptoms of the coronavirus on Feb. 24 and tested favorable.
“So, far it’s been easy,” Paul said while a nurse drew his blood Thursday. “I’m simply sitting here unwinding.”
“He wants to donate plasma to conserve other people’s lives,” his partner Alice said.
Now that Paul’s recovered, he’s helping others fighting the infection by offering up his plasma, rich with the antibodies that battled the coronavirus.
“This is an emergency investigational new treatment that the FDA has just taken into play, and we’re extremely fortunate to be doing this in Sacramento,” said Drew Fowler, Marketing & Communications Supervisor at Vitalant.
The couple was at the Vitalant lab in Sacramento Thursday where Paul made his plasma contribution.
Dr. Neal Kaushal, a double-board accredited internal medication and gastroenterology doctor, stated the procedure is known as convalescent plasma transfusion, and it is on the cutting edge of treatment for the virus.
“It takes a person’s plasma who has recovered from the coronavirus and then that plasma is isolated and purified and then reestablished into a client who has an active disease,” Kaushal said.
The hope is that whatever assisted the first person recuperate will also assist the brand-new patient now combating the infection.
“It provides us a glimmer of hope in actually finding something that can handle the infection or beat it or kill it, or in some way weaken the infection,” Kaushal stated.
For Paul, it’s another. He is now the first person in Sacramento to offer up his plasma to assist others. Paul had been on 141 cruises, but none compares to the last one that changed his life permanently.
Now, he’s hoping he can help make a favorable change in the lives of others combating COVID-19
“Good luck to everyone, and look after yourselves,” Paul stated.
