Washington resident defeats COVID-19, donates plasma for research

WASHINGTON - When flu symptoms hit Ryan Stouder's family he never imagined it would turn into a diagnoses of COVID-19 for both him and his wife. Now healthy and virus free, Stouder has decided to donate plasma for research about the virus.

'I just didn't feel very good. My kids, the day before, had headaches and body aches and we thought, ‘Oh gosh influenza A has hit us,'” he said of the symptoms that began around St. Patrick's Day.

At that point, community spread was not yet talked about he said but because of his job as an adjunct professor at the Kirkwood Regional Center in Washington, was on spring break, he was staying home anyway.

'The kids started with some symptoms and then a couple days later my wife started noticing body aches and joint pain and she didn't feel right,” he said, adding she visited the respiratory clinic at the Washington County Health Center for a test. 'It was really the first day they had anything like that going on.”

Once she was confirmed, her self isolation period began, he said. The kids bounced back quickly from the symptoms they had and no testing was needed.

A few days later, Stouder noticed he had similar symptoms including exhaustion. When bed time crept closer to 5:30 p.m. for him, much earlier than normal, he knew something more severe was happening, he said.

'Initially I really thought I had some sort of influenza because it was still in season,” he said.

Shortly after, Stouder went in for a test and was confirmed to have strep throat and based on an x-ray, possibly pneumonia. Not until he was transferred to Mercy Hospital in Iowa City was he confirmed to have COVID-19, he said.

too.

'It was very scary. Again I didn't think I was too bad off. I knew I had pneumonia but I didn't think I would be put on a ventilator or oxygen,” he said, adding he never had to. 'This was all kind of a little spooky as it was and then the hospital policies at that time were that you cant see friends or family or anyone.”

After five days in the hospital his white blood cells began to rebound and he was sent home to recover. Stouder said he continued self isolation at home and met with his primary doctor via telehealth to follow up on his condition.

On April 6, he was released from self isolation after all of his symptoms were determined to be cleared. Knowing the struggle he went through, Stouder said he wanted to help others if possible.

Having heard about the antibody project, Stouder and his wife both signed up. The research will be used to help determine how the virus spreads and what other signs and symptoms to look out for, he said.

'With this antibody process they're able to tell you you're not expressing any signs of the virus but they can also tell you if you are. They have a little more evidence to say if you're good to go,” he said 'I just thought if there's someway to prevent someone else from experiencing the horror that I went through I would be more than happy to share that. It may be able to give them just enough of a boost to put them over the top and start to heal better.”