MINNEAPOLIS — Five-month-old Zoe Suchta has been through a lot in just her short time here on Earth.
“Zoe is a really tough little girl,” says Daniel Suchta.
Zoe’s father, Dan Suchta, speaks from a room inside Children's Minnesota where he says his daughter is being treated for a viral reaction just a few months after this family was diagnosed with COVID 19.
“We all pretty much got sick during the same week, and we were feeling the symptoms pretty harshly pretty much close to when we all tested positive,” says Suchta. “Both myself Brenda, Zoe, and then my in-laws, and some siblings there.”
Dan says he first contracted COVID 19 – while working as a nurse practitioner in a local hospital.
“The unit I was working on was a COVID 19 response unit and that was the first wave,” says Suchta. “The time that I invested there, I wound up getting sick, and I brought it home, through work.”
Dan says his wife and Zoe all recovered, but Dan was left with a few lingering symptoms.
“I still can’t taste or smell anything and it’s been five months later, and I struggle a lot with being very tired and having this brain fog that comes and goes.”
And this week, Zoe was admitted to the hospital for severe bronchiolitis. Dan says doctors are still trying to figure out if Zoe’s condition was caused by lingering effects of COVID 19. Kris Ehresmann, the infectious disease division director with the Minnesota Dept. Health addressed COVID 19 cases and tracking cases for people who have long term effects from COVID 19.
“We are aware that there are many people that continue to have COVID-19 issues long after the initial sickness has ended, and I think that’s why as we talk about the guidance, the importance of masking, social distance keeping children when you’re sick, and that’s because COVID 19 has a bigger effect on the body then you may see,” says Ehresmann.
Now, he’s hoping his symptoms subside and Zoe stays on the road to recovery.
“She’s gone through a lot in just five months and I’m really proud of her for that,” says Suchta.