She got off dialysis. Her doctor thinks other patients with acute kidney injury can too
SAN FRANCISCO — It was during some of the darkest days of the pandemic — November 2020 — when Melissa Lawson, 36, was helicoptered from an emergency room in Santa Rosa, Calif., to a hospital here, her blood so thick with white blood cells doctors thought she might not survive the night.
She did, after undergoing a procedure to clear her blood. Diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia, she got chemo, and less than a month later was in remission. But then her kidneys suddenly stopped working — she’s still not sure why — her lungs filled with fluid, and she was rushed to the ICU, where she coded twice. Her parents were called in (despite strict Covid protocols) to say their last goodbyes.
