A nurse who had been in a coma for 45 days was cured in a “Christmas miracle” hours after her ventilators were about to be turned off by her doctors.
Monica Almeida had taken both her vaccines, yet she tested positive and ended up being rushed to hospital, where she went straight to the resuscitation room, The Sun reported.
The 37-year-old was taken to the ICU and placed in a coma on November 16 with her condition so severe, her parents were told to fly from Portugal to say their final goodbyes.
She was just 72 hours away from having her ventilator turned off when quick-thinking doctors decided to give her a large dose of the drug associated with erectile dysfunction.
Within just days, her breathing improved and the level of oxygen she needed dropped by half.
The mum-of-two told the The Sun: “It was definitely the Viagra that saved me. Within 48 hours it opened up my airwaves and my lungs started to respond.
“If you think how the drug works, it expands your blood vessels. I have asthma and my air sacks needed a little help.”
Following the experimental treatment, the specialist respiratory nurse from Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, made it home for Christmas to celebrate with her loved ones after nearly two months stuck in a hospital bed.
Ms Almeida has now praised the creative staff at Lincoln County Hospital for giving her Viagra and ultimately saving her life.
She said: “I had a little joke with the consultant after I came round because I knew him.”
“He told me it was the Viagra, I laughed and thought he was joking, but he said ‘no, really, you’ve had a large dose of Viagra’. It was my little Christmas miracle.”
Ms Almeida, who is also asthmatic, is now on the road to recovery, but doctors told her that if she had not received the first and second dose of the Covid-19 vaccine, she would have died.
