'It saved my life': Brothers who beat COVID-19 urge fellow survivors to donate blood plasma
Two brothers from Boston who were devastated by the COVID-19 pandemic are starting to turn a new page.
Mike Mackan is returning to work for the city's Inspectional Services Department on Monday. He has made the long road to recovery, after coming down with the coronavirus in April, being put on a ventilator and then being placed in a medically induced coma.
Mackan's brother, Chris "Tiger" Stockbridge, also survived COVID-19 but had a smoother recovery.
Their mother, Jo, unfortunately, just before both tested positive for the virus.
Mackan is urging others who have survived the virus to donate their blood plasma, which contains antibodies that can help a COVID-19 patient survive. Mackan was a beneficiary of a plasma donation, while in April following his recovery.
"We need more people to donate that plasma. It saved my life," Mackan said. "I had an 8% chance of surviving. My heart stopped twice. My lung collapsed ... My kidneys were medically shut down. I was in a medically induced coma, and my body was going into septic shock.
"They put that plasma in me and within 24 hours I was alive, and I was going to survive and I walked out of that hospital."
Mackan and Stockbridge are also urging those with COVID-19 symptoms to get tested.