MIRROR SOURCE:
KOAA News5: https://www.koaa.com/news/coronavirus/one-in-a-million-local-woman-in-coma-for-nearly-a-month-following-j-j-vaccine-fighting-for-fair-compensation
One in a million: Local woman in coma for nearly a month following J&J vaccine, fighting for "fair compensation"
Kendra Lippy survived severe blood clots that changed her life forever
Posted at 2:55 AM, Jun 04, 2021
and last updated 4:54 PM, Jun 04, 2021
COLORADO SPRINGS — Since the first COVID-19 vaccine was made available to Americans late last year, nearly 300 million doses have been administered.
Of those, more than ten million were the Johnson & Johnson single-dose vaccination. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 32 people experienced severe, adverse health complications involving blood clots. The majority of the reports regarding the serious condition have been in adult women, who are younger than 50 years old. The CDC said the benefits of the vaccine outweigh the risks.
A Colorado Springs woman is that one in a million when it comes to severe health complications after a Johnson & Johnson vaccine.
Kendra Lippy was a healthy, 38-year-old Coloradan, who decided to get vaccinated to protect the people she loves and help the country return to a sense of normalcy. She received a Johnson & Johnson vaccine on March 7. "I remember coming home after and raising my hands, and telling my parents I got vaccinated, which was exciting," said Lippy.
Lippy said a week passed, and on March 15, she experienced a headache unlike any other. "It was so bad, that it felt like needles piercing my brain," said Lippy.
Lippy said by the end of that week, she was also dealing with abdominal pain. On Friday night, "I came home, fell asleep, and then woke up at 11:30 vomiting. And it was bad, and I came out of the bathroom on all fours, and I asked my dad to get my mom, and I said something's wrong," explained Lippy.
She went to the hospital on March 19, and on March 20, fell into a coma. "The next thing I remember is waking up 22 days later in the ICU. I had no idea what had happened, no idea what was going on, none of that," said Lippy, who attributes her sudden sickness to the vaccine.
Lippy told News5 she woke up from her coma on April 11, two days before the Johnson & Johnson vaccine was temporarily halted on April 13 to investigate reports of dangerous blood clots. Lippy finally came home from the hospital on April 21. "I got blood clots that, ultimately, killed my small intestine, only leaving me with 90 centimeters. I had them in my legs as well, and then as well as in my lungs... I don't have the small part of my small intestine, so I have the beginning and the end. So, there's things that I can't process, things that I can't eat right," said Lippy.
90 centimeters is just under three feet long, and the average small intestine is 22 feet long.
When Lippy finally woke up, her mother said she did not immediately know what was happening. It took a few days to completely understand how sick she was, that she had surgery, and how long she had been in the hospital.
"One of the first questions she asked was, 'Did I miss Easter mom?' And I said yes, you did miss Easter," said Debbie Lippy.
Her mother never could have thought this would happen to her daughter. "I just don't know how I survived all those days, because I just didn't know, and I just would say, Lord, please don't take her... I would whisper in her ear, you know, Kendra you need to fight, and I love you," said Debbie Lippy, who has received the Moderna vaccine without any complications.
Lippy said doctors had been giving her a blood thinner called heparin to treat her blood clots. However, the CDC now says heparin could be dangerous to administer to a patient in Lippy's situation. "Heparin is actually putting poison in my body," said Lippy, who has since been prescribed a different blood thinner.
Lippy said she still has blood clots in her liver, which doctors are monitoring.
Lippy's lawyer, Stephen Justino, said he has a history of handling negligence claims against the United States government. "If the government is going to ask us to participate in this big test study, and someone like Kendra is seriously injured, suffering life-changing complications, the government should step in and fully and fairly compensate her for doing the right thing," said Justino.
