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FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. – It’s hard to imagine that getting sick from COVID could actually be a blessing in disguise, but so it was for a Fort Lauderdale man who might not otherwise be alive today if he hadn’t contracted the virus.
When the coronavirus started sweeping through South Florida in March of 2020 it hit Michael Valdez especially hard.
“I went into the hospital with COVID without a condition of any kind, no medications, and I woke up after being in a coma and it’s all gone,” Valdez said.
As he struggled through rehab, doctors at first thought his lingering shortness of breath was due to the disease until more detailed diagnostic tests revealed something unknown even prior to his infection: The main vessel from his heart to his abdomen, the aorta, was dangerously enlarged.
“It was dormant because it was hidden from a regular examination. There wasn’t any signs, there wasn’t any symptoms so it’s probably fair to say that if it wasn’t for COVID we wouldn’t know he had this abdominal aneurism and then he would have sustained a rupture and then potentially died,” said Dr. Arnoux Blandchard, a cardiologist with Broward Health Medical Center.
“You just gotta go ‘whoa’,” said Valdez.
It will be a while before he is able to resume some of his favorite activities like singing in the Gay Men’s Chorus, but he’s focused on appreciating every little improvement in his health.
“Mr. Valdez is a very fortunate man,” said Blanchard.
