Back from the brink

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Jacquelyn Cordero talks about her trip to the hospital in an ambulance filled with people trying to keep her alive. Bob Pennell / Mail Tribune photoBob Pennell

November 21, 2009

By Teresa Thomas

Mail Tribune

A Medford woman beat the odds after nearly dying from complications of the H1N1 virus and has returned home from Portland to complete her recovery.

Jacquelyn Cordero, 30, was transported Wednesday to Medford from Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland, where she had been since Oct. 21.

"Just that quickly she made such an incredible recovery," said Jacquelyn's father, Johnny Cordero, pastor of the Lamb's Home Fellowship in Medford. "The doctors were amazed."

In the beginning of October, Jacquelyn began experiencing symptoms of the H1N1 virus, including a loss of appetite, sleeplessness, fever and trouble breathing.

"Most people do great with it (H1N1 virus) but I got pneumonia ... and my lungs took a beating," she said.

She was first admitted to Rogue Valley Medical Center, but when her condition deteriorated her doctor transferred her to Portland for treatment. She was transported by ambulance rather than helicopter because of storms, and required about 16 medical staff and emergency personnel to keep her alive during the trip. Eight people accompanied her in the ambulance and others rode in separate vehicles. At one point the oxygenation machine she was hooked to stopped and had to be hand pumped, she said.

At Legacy Emanuel she was placed on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine, which provides oxygen to patients whose heart and lungs are so severely diseased or damaged that they can no longer function.

Neither Jackson nor Josephine County have ECMOs.

Jacquelyn was in a medically induced coma for three weeks, from Oct. 14 to Nov. 4. She was hooked to the ECMO for about eight days and remained at Legacy another week past that.

In Medford, she will undergo physical therapy to build her strength and endurance, continue doctor visits and slowly be weened off of medication and blood thinner.

Jacquelyn's doctors in Portland, John Hill and Andy Michaels, were unavailable for comment Friday.

She said the doctors had used the ECMOs to treat three children and six adults who were in severe stages of the swine flu and all survived. She had been the worst case they had seen, she said.

"She has done remarkable in certain aspects but now the rehab," Johnny Cordero said.

Johnny said portions of his daughter's right lung are dead. She has scarring and also is suffering from lingering symptoms of pneumonia.

"None of that takes away from the fact that no one expected her to live," Johnny said.

He said although his daughter is emotionally glad to be home, she is somewhat fearful about going out into the community.

"My immune system is so compromised that even going to the mall or a restaurant, I have to wear a mask," Jacquelyn said.

A preschool teacher, Jacquelyn will be unable to return to work for six months to two years, depending on the progress of her recovery, he said. Because her immune system was severely weakened, Jacquelyn said she will probably not return to teaching preschool but will choose a more controlled environment, perhaps helping her father in his business, in which he leads workshops.

"I'm hoping that with will power, faith and encouragement, it won't take two years," she said.

Jacquelyn, who had no health insurance for the first few weeks of hospital stay, recently qualified for the Oregon Health Plan, which was back-dated to cover the majority of her expenses. Her father estimated her medical bills were more than $600,000. The bill for her RVMC stay alone was about $165,000.

"I was looking at a huge chunk of money I could never in my lifetime make," Jacquelyn said.

Her father said he also was very grateful he only had to pay for some equipment and a few co-payments.

Johnny Cordero, his wife and three daughters, including Jacquelyn, and her son are currently sharing a two-bedroom house and living off a single income. Father and daughter expressed gratitude to those who prayed and financially supported the family over the past five weeks.

"If it weren't for those people my family couldn't be with me in Portland or pay rent," she said.

Friends of Jacquelyn can leave messages for her at www.caringbridge.org/visit/jacquelyncordero/journal.

Reach intern Teresa Thomas at 776-4464 or at intern1@mailtribune.com.

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