LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — As many young people have been seen taking fewer precautions to prevent COVID-19, one Las Vegas teenager shared her harrowing experience with 8 News Now Wednesday.
“I never thought it would happen to me,” Kaydee Asher told 8 News Now. “Until it did.”
Sixteen-year-old Asher has truly been to hell and back since she was diagnosed with COVID-19 on June 22. She and her family shared that she’s been admitted to the Intensive Care Unit twice, where she’s received a myriad of medications and breathing treatments.
“There are times where I was like I don’t know if my body can get through this,” Asher added of the experience.
“In the ICU it was like taking two minutes to sit up in the hospital,” she explained. “For them to fix something, give me medicine, or just to go to the bathroom.”
Some may argue the scariest part of her scenario; this isn’t exactly a normal occurrence. Data from The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows the rate of hospitalization for COVID-19 patients between 5 and 17 years old is 0.1 in 100,000.
“You can be very healthy like me and never get the flu and never be sick,” Asher said. “And still struggle during this time.”
Even though she’s been extremely careful, the virus still hit her hard. Now, she hopes her voice will help others stop and think so they don’t suffer from the same, agonizing experience.
“There’s so much going on in the world right now, but this isn’t something we can just forget is happening,” Asher concluded. “It’s real and it’s painful and it’s something that I don’t want anyone to go through.”
Asher told 8 News Now she was the first COVID-19 positive patient in Saint Rose Hospital’s pediatric unit to be admitted to the ICU for her severe symptoms.
She was back home on Wednesday, but said doctors told her it could be up to six weeks before she starts to feel normal again.
