‘IT’S LIKE A MIRACLE’
Hero doc who treated COVID patients credits plasma for saving life
A beloved Brockton doctor who was on a ventilator — in the fight of his life after contracting coronavirus from treating patients — is now back home and gaining strength every day following a “miraculous recovery,” he told the Herald on Wednesday.
Dr. Nick Athienites, a nephrology kidney specialist at the Brockton Neighborhood Health Center and five area hospitals, credits his wife, Jennifer, for helping him beat back the virus. Jennifer put out a desperate plea on social media for plasma when her husband got intubated at Tufts Medical Center in mid-April.
“I strongly believe my wife saved my life by getting the plasma,” Athienites, 59, said from his North Easton home on Wednesday. “The plasma was given at the right time, and within 24 hours, I started getting better.”
Using plasma from COVID-19 survivors to help treat people fighting the infection is one of many experimental treatments that Boston hospitals and thousands across the country are studying.
“I’m a strong believer in plasma,” said Athienites, who also received the drug remdesivir. “Convalescent plasma can be a lifesaver.”
Athienites has diabetes, one of the pre-existing conditions that makes it more likely patients will die from coronavirus. He was also exposed to a high viral load by treating patients who had coronavirus.
Based on his age, those factors and being on a ventilator, he estimated his survival chances at less than 10%.
“Being a doctor that deals with the sickest patients in ICUs, you calculate their probabilities of survival,” Athienites said. “Now I find myself calculating in my head my probability of survival, and if I’ll walk out of here.
“With the help of the doctors, science, medication and God, I made it home to my wife and daughter,” he said. “It’s like a miracle. Just a miraculous recovery.”
The odds were not in his favor after Athienites went on the ventilator, said Dr. Benjamin Lightfoot, Brockton Neighborhood Health Center’s chief medical officer.
“It sounded pretty bad early on, but it’s just amazing, just pure joy that he’s back home now,” Lightfoot said. “We’re all so happy, and can’t wait to see him back at the clinic.”
Athienites thanked everyone who sent him get-well cards and prayers.
“I received tremendous support from my patients and colleagues,” he said.
Athienites is now doing physical therapy from home. He can walk up the stairs, but said he easily gets tired.
“My heart rate goes up quickly,” he said, noting his lung capacity could take months to improve because of the damage from the virus.
In addition to the physical component, Athienites has been exercising his brain by reading up on medical journals that he missed while battling COVID-19.
When asked about the timeline for going back to treat patients, he said, “I’m taking it one week, one day at a time. I’ll get back to doing what I used to do.”
Athienites also plans on donating plasma if he can. He’ll get tested for antibodies, along with his wife who was sick.
“I urge everybody who had COVID and is healthy enough to donate plasma,” he said. “The more plasma, the more patients that could benefit from it.”