A nurse has been woken up from a 28-day Covid coma thanks to a medical experiment that involved giving her Viagra.
Monica Almeida, who was fully vaccinated, was admitted to Lincoln County Hospital on November 9 after testing positive for Covid.
A week after being admitted to the hospital, the 37-year-old mother-of-two, who has asthma, took a turn for the worse and was moved into intensive care.
After arriving in the ICU, her condition continued to decline. Doctors had no choice but to place Almeida in a medically-induced coma on November 16.
But before they put her under, The Sun reports that Almeida agreed to take part in an experimental treatment regime involving a surprising drug - Viagra.
The drug is usually used to treat erectile dysfunction. However, agreeing to take it turned out to be a decision that would save Almeida's life.
After 28 days of fighting for her life in a coma, she woke up to discover that she had been given a large dose of Viagra - and that it was responsible for bringing her back.
She was just 72 hours shy of having her ventilator switched off by desperate doctors.
The nurse explained how the drug helped by relaxing her blood vessels and opening her airways - therefore increasing her oxygen levels.
In an interview with The Sun she described the miraculous moment she woke up on December 14.
"I had a little joke with the consultant after I came round because I knew him.
He told me it was the Viagra, I laughed and thought he was joking, but he said ‘no, really, you’ve had a large dose of Viagra.’"
Thanks to the Viagra, Almeida was able to make it home for Christmas eve with her husband and sons.
She described the treatment as "my little Christmas miracle", and used her experience to encourage others to get vaccinated.
"There are people out there saying the vaccine has killed people. I’m not denying there are people who react and get poorly with the vaccine, but when we look at the amount of deaths we have in unvaccinated people there is a big message there to have your jab," said the nurse.
"I never expected at 37 years of age to get as ill as I did. I never thought this would happen to me and I want people to take it more seriously," she added.
