Coronavirus: Southern California father dies waiting for possible COVID-19 plasma donation

Doctors told the man's wife that plasma donated from someone who has recovered from COVID-19 may be his last chance to survive.
Friday, April 17, 2020
A Southern California man who needed a COVID-19 plasma donation has died amid his wife's desperate fight to save her husband.

Chloe Nguyen's husband, 32-year-old Ted Le, was in critical condition with COVID-19 and on a ventilator for nearly four weeks at Pomona Valley Hospital.

Le died on Friday.

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Doctors told Nguyen that plasma donated from someone who has recovered from COVID-19 may be his last chance to survive.



Nguyen tested positive as well but has no symptoms. She's self-quarantined and is away from the young couple's son Kendrick, who is two and a half years old.

"He knows that his dad is not there," Nguyen said. "He opens his iPad and he saw my husband's picture and he said 'daddy.' He noticed that daddy is not there. But I know he misses him a lot," Nguyen told ABC7 on Thursday.

Chloe shared her story to encourage others to donate plasma through the Red Cross, even if it turns out to be too late for her husband of five years.

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"If they cannot help my husband then at least they can help all the people, all the patients in the same situation as my husband, because I don't know how long we have," she said. "Everyone is trying everything. The doctors and nurses are doing their best."
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On Thursday, Chloe was able to see her husband for the first time in nearly a month, but only through a glass window.



Doctors told Nguyen on Thursday that her husband's kidneys are failing and it's time to make some important decisions.

If you have fully recovered from COVID-19 and have been symptom free for at least 14 days, please contact the Red Cross to donate plasma that may save a life.

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