Noa is from Tarragona, she was born prematurely and has lung problems . In April, she completed her first year, after a very serious hospitalized month, after contracting the coronavirus. We speak with his parents , who assure us that the experience has been horrible but that they look to the future with optimism.
After being discharged, Víctor Blanch wanted to address other parents who may be going through an equally hard time with a sick child: ” There is hope. If Noa overcame it with her lung problems, the other children can also overcome it. Everything will succeed”.
“A real nightmare”
Noa is already home with her parents . They assure that there is still a lot of work ahead, but they approach the future with great optimism. Gone are very hard moments, when they were away from their daughter.
“When you are the father of a baby with lung problems and they tell you that he has Covid-19, nobody can imagine what it feels like. My whole world fell apart. Noa had coronavirus, my wife with symptoms and my other two children were with her mother and she couldn’t see them either … It was a real nightmare. “
This is how Victor remembered the moment when his little girl tested positive.
That happened in March, when he and his wife Gina Bou took their 11-month-old baby to the emergency room at the Joan XXIII Hospital in Tarragona. According to Gina, Noa had had a bad cough for a few days, but it got complicated. “She was just crying, because the cough didn’t even let her sleep,” so they decided to admit her.
She stayed there for a few days, until her mother began with strong symptoms that seemed to be of coronavirus and went home, because as she explains herself, “she knew that the best thing for her health was for me to stay away .”
Victor stayed with his daughter until she got worse and they had to admit her to the ICU and confirmed positive for coronavirus. As she did not improve, she was transferred to the ICU of the Hospital de la Vall d’Hebron, in Barcelona. She had to be there for two weeks alone while her parents were quarantined at their home in Amposta, Tarragona, 175 kilometers away. Gina explains that the situation was really distressing:
“We were both in the same house, knowing that Noa was alone in Barcelona. It is a terrible situation of helplessness, and we could not hug or sleep in the same room. We just waited for the phone to ring.”
Fortunately last week they were able to go to Barcelona to look for her so that she could finish recovering again at the Joan XXIII hospital. But according to his mother it was also difficult: “Due to the sedation he hardly knew us and was always sleeping.” Until they discharged him in mid-April and were able to go home.
Optimism and a lot of work ahead
Noa’s parents assure that they still have a long job ahead of them “to regain strength and solid food habits” , but following the exercises for the legs and joints that the pediatricians have prescribed, they trust that the girl can get back to where you were before you contracted the coronavirus.
Victor recognizes that he will continue to protect his daughter:
“All parents protect our children, because we love them. But in these times, it is worth overprotecting them. The enemy can be in the street, everywhere and we do not see him.”
Photo | Provided by Noa’s parents
In Babies and More | Protect your baby from respiratory infections, A five-month-old baby tests positive for coronavirus in Murcia
