A 25-year-old Indiana med student became the patient after experiencing rare heart complications following being diagnosed with COVID-19.
Ramya Yeleti contracted the novel virus after her father, mother and sister became infected in April.
While she began to experience mild symptoms, the Marian College of Osteopathic Medicine student wasn’t very concerned.
“We figured if we got it, it was no big deal,” she told “Today.” “People who are 25 are not really showing negative effects at the time like older adults.”
After recovering at home, Ramya came down with a fever and started feeling exhausted again in July. A COVID test confirmed she was negative.
“Since I already had COVID I really didn’t think I had COVID again. There was no way I was reinfected. It was like a one in a billion chance,”she added. “I thought it was some nasty flu bug.”
But after vomiting, getting chest pains and experiencing an erratic heart rate, Ramya went to the emergency room and tested positive for the virus again.
Doctors performed an EKG and discovered she had myocarditis, which is the inflammation of the heart muscle and can cause irregular heart beats, heart failure and sudden death.
Ramya was shocked by the diagnosis.
“There is no reason for a 25-year-old to have this,” she added. “Then I passed out.”
Doctors inserted a catheter to try to pump blood to the heart. After that didn’t work, she was put on an ECMO machine to circulate the blood.
“ECMO is a pretty big deal,” she shared. “A lot of patients often don’t get off ECMO.”
Luckily, Rayma’s condition rapidly improved and she miraculously recovered in just two days.
“Her heart had come back to almost normal. That is very, very, very rare,” Dr. Roopa Rao, a cardiologist at Indiana University Health, told the morning news program. “Within 48 hours, this is something I haven’t heard of or read. It was a miraculous recovery.”
Doctors aren’t sure if she was reinfected with coronavirus or if her illness was due to lingering effects of the first infection in April.
“Sometimes patients can remain positive,” Dr. Rao said. “We have to assume she is reinfected with COVID and treat her.”
And while Rayma’s heart issues are rare for someone her age, Rao said
some experts believe the immune systems in younger COVID patients can overreact while trying to protect the body.
“This hyperactivity causes the damage to the heart muscle,” Rao added.
Rayma hopes her story will help other people struggling with severe COVID symptoms.
“I really don’t want them to feel like they are alone,” she said. “For people recovering, it sucks, I get it, but they are not alone in their struggle.”
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