Fitness instructor’s shock Covid complication six months later
A fitness instructor who survived Covid had no choice but to undergo a heart transplant after the virus resurfaced months later, attacking his organs.
Derek Stipetich, 48, from the US, lived a very active lifestyle. Not only was he a personal trainer, hitting up the gym regularly, but he also thrived at extreme adventures.
However, the father-of-two slowed down a bit in November last year when he was diagnosed with Covid.
Derek Stipetich, 48, from the US, was diagnosed with Covid in November last year. Picture: KDKA
Derek described the symptoms as mild, but still struggled to lift his usual amount of weights while training.
“The weights that I was regularly using were entirely too heavy for me,” he told KDKA.
Two months after his diagnosis, his wife and daughters pestered him to see a doctor for a check-up as he began to battle with fatigue.
Doctors told him he was healthy, but then in April, Derek came down with a cold and couldn’t sleep.
“I would wake up and feel like I was suffocating,” he told KDKA.
Derek went back to the doctors months later after feeling fatigued and despite being told he was healthy, it was later revealed he was very sick and in cardiogenic shock. Picture: KDKA
Derek had to undergo a heart transplant after the virus lay dormant in his body and attacked his organs six months later. Picture: KDKA
His family was convinced he had Covid again and after going to the hospital, it turned out Derek was very sick and in cardiogenic shock.
It was then revealed his kidneys, liver, and heart were failing — and the only way to keep him alive was to have a heart transplant.
“His heart had given way to a point that he needed to have his life sustained by a mechanical heart pump,” Dr. Azam Hadi, an advanced heart failure cardiologist at Allegheny Health Network said.
The fitness instructor had led a very active lifestyle prior to his Covid diagnosis. Picture: KDKA
But his mobility began to decline. Picture: KDKA
Dr Hadi, who was among the team of doctors working on Derek, said they were able to turn his shock process around to a point where he recovered his organs except his heart.
Derek then needed to undergo a transplant and after eight days of his heart being pumped artificially, a donor heart arrived.
Dr Hadi said the dad’s condition was unlike anything he has seen before with doctors believing the virus remained dormant in Derek’s body.
Derek before being diagnosed with Covid. Picture: KDKA
He told the US network he has seen a lot of Covid-19 heart issues, including death, but this was a first.
“The dormant virus continued to cause inflammation of the heart. And inflammation, in turn, makes the heart weak and get scarred and not able to pump,” Dr. Hadi said.
Derek said not knowing it settled somewhere inside of him and to be told it destroyed his heart, he wants as much testing they can do on his old heart.
Currently, his old heart is being used for testing by the medical community.
The father-of-two is recovering well and only just starting to regain some of his mobility following his lifesaving operation.
Derek is also focusing his attention on his business — Pumping Adrenaline Beating All Odds — something he started prior to his medical ordeal.
He has since turned it into a not-for-profit organization to benefit heart transplant recipients, especially those associated with Covid-19.
