Michelle De La Isla (pictured), 45, now needs a pacemaker after devloping 'long Covid'. She serves as the mayor of Topeka, Kansas
A Kansas mayor who describes herself as 'one of the healthiest people she knows' now needs a pacemaker after a tough bout with COVID-19.
Michelle De La Isla, 45, mayor of Topeka, contracted the virus eight months ago, and has been hospitalized three times since.
While she survived, the virus left her with permanent damage to her heart, and De La Isla will now need a pacemaker implanted to regulate her heartbeat.
She is one of many Americans - often young and healthy - to suffer from a condition called 'long COVID'.
'Covid is no joke,' De La Isla said during a city council meeting Tuesday.
'On Monday, I'm going to have a pretty big procedure. This post-Covid has been extremely difficult and it has impacted my heart, so I am going to have a bionic heart starting on Monday with a new pacemaker.'
When she first contracted Covid, De La Isla assumed she would make a quick recovery because she is healthy.
While she did survive, the virus took a severe toll on her body.
'With all the work that I've done to remain healthy…I thought I was going to beat it,' De La Isla told KWCH.
She said she contracted the virus in January 2021.
De La Isla passed out in the shower after experiencing the first symptoms, when her heart rate and blood pressure dropped.
She was hospitalized for six days before being discharged.
Later, she needed her gallbladder removed due to complications with the virus, leading to another hospitalization for five days.
A few weeks ago she was admitted into the hospital again, suffering from intense dizziness and nausea.
While she has recovered from the virus, she still experiences episodes of symptoms like dizziness, nausea or exhaustion.
'The difficulty is I don't know when it's going to hit,' she told KWCH.
Her case is similar to other young, relatively healthy, people who suffer from long Covid.
Dr Noah Greenspan, who opened the first
