A 33-year-old man from Argentina who has Down syndrome and is undergoing treatment for cancer has been released from hospital after recovering from coronavirus.
Footage showed medics at Hospital Independcia in Santiago del Estero applauding on Friday (September 18th) as Javier Villalba walked out of the ward where he was being treated.
His mother said she had feared he wouldn't survive the virus.
"Many nights he cried, because the first days he was not very well, it was difficult for him to breathe," recalled Segunda Villalba, who also had COVID-19 and was hospitalized with her son.
"This disease is horrible, very ugly, we were shocked, but thanks to all the health personnel, today we can say that we have defeated this virus," she added.
A 33-year-old man who has Down syndrome and is undergoing treatment for cancer, recovered from coronavirus at the Hospital Independencia in the capital of Santiago del Estero, in northern Argentina, as confirmed by his mother, who thought that "It wasn't going to end well."
"Many nights he cried, because the first days he was not very well, it was difficult for him to breathe, then I knelt down and asked God, because I know that there is a God who gives us these situations to give a certainty that he exists", recalled Segunda Villalba, who also had Covid-19 and was hospitalized with her son.
Once recovered and at home, the woman said: “Javier was in his chemo for cancer, I got sick, I had a rare flu-like condition, so they swabbed me because I was worried about my son and they confirmed on September 1 that I had coronavirus, at the time my son started with diarrhea, nausea and was dehydrated”.
“So they decided to swab him and on September 3 he tested positive; so they decided to transfer us to the Independencia Hospital", Villalba said.
And she recalled: "this disease is horrible, very ugly, we were shocked, but thanks to all the health personnel, today we can say that we have defeated this virus."
"Javier is very special, he almost never says anything, he just said 'I'm better, I'm fine', when they told him they were going to draw blood, he would stick his arm out without saying anything and the nurses said how good he is", said the woman.
And without hesitation, she added: “Javier is the one who keeps us going, who gives us strength, he never lowered his arms, only once did he say 'I'm sick'; for us he is an angel”.
On the other hand, and as a message, Villalba said that “many people who have a son with a disability are overwhelmed, but I tell them to cling to God and their child because they give us the strength we need; and many times, no matter how much they don't say anything, they know what's going on and they feel it, that's why they never throw their hands away at their sons”.
For her part, one of the nurses who attended him, María Rosa Quiroga, responsible for the Blue Sector for patients with Covid-19 at the Independencia Hospital, said that Javier was a “very special” patient and “we have given him an individualized and comprehensive treatment”.
"At the end of his first chemotherapy sessions, he tested positive for coronavirus, which is why he entered Hospital in a delicate condition due to his own symptoms caused by chemotherapy, but he also had symptoms of the coronavirus," explained the health professional.
And she added, "his system was altered and required a lot of work", but Quiroga assured that "the young man today is recovered and the team is very satisfied to have been able to collaborate and help so that he can return home."
