Please consider donating to Dani's GoFundMe for ongoing medical expenses: https://gofund.me/43a1e8e7
AS fireworks lit up the Colorado skies for Fourth of July celebrations, Dani was just beginning a fight for her life. On a road trip with her boyfriend Ricky and sister Mariana, Dani had been suffering with chest pain. When she reached hospital, doctors found that pre-existing heart conditions meant that her body was struggling to cope with Covid-19 and she was going into heart failure, respiratory failure, kidney failure and septic shock. As she needed urgent specialist treatment, they immediately airlifted her to the closest major trauma hospital, but during the flight Dani's "heart stopped beating." She remembers paramedics surrounding her just before she went unconscious: "I just remember them talking to me... and then next thing you know I didn't hear them any more." Dani was in a critical condition when she landed and doctors fought to save her life, putting her on life support and preparing her family "to say their goodbyes." Miraculously, after a week in a medically-induced coma, Dani survived - but during the coma, her blood had not been reaching her limbs. Doctors had to make the difficult decision to amputate her legs and her hands and as Dani faced up to her new reality, she knew there were months of gruelling rehabilitation ahead of her. She met the challenge head on: "I couldn't see life like this at first, but I also thought 'I'm a strong person and I feel like I can do this’." Two years on from her traumatic ordeal, Dani is still adjusting to life with prosthetics and continuing to work hard on her mobility and strength. She attends physical therapy weekly and goes to her local gym as often as she can, after owner Mike offered to help her adapt exercises to push her new body to new limits. And Dani is also keen to get back to her successful career as a hair and makeup artist - she has been practising at home on her dad's hair, coming up with techniques that enable her to use clippers and brushes again. The culmination of years of determination to regain her independence is not lost on Dani, as she told Truly: "I feel like I'm me again" - and Ricky and Mariana testify to the courage she has shown to get to this point. Ricky puts her incredible recovery down to the fact that "Dani is an extremely strong person - if anyone could do this, it's definitely Dani" and Mariana's belief in her sister is just as unwavering: "I just knew that this wasn't going to stop her."
Follow Dani:
https://www.tiktok.com/@dani22official
https://www.instagram.com/dani22
https://www.youtube.com/@Dani22official
https://linktr.ee/dani22official
With thanks to Scotts Valley Gym:
https://www.scottsvalleygym.com
https://www.instagram.com/ScottsValleyGym
AS fireworks lit up the Colorado skies for Fourth of July celebrations, Dani was just beginning a fight for her life. On a road trip with her boyfriend Ricky and sister Mariana, Dani had been suffering with chest pain. When she reached hospital, doctors found that pre-existing heart conditions meant that her body was struggling to cope with Covid-19 and she was going into heart failure, respiratory failure, kidney failure and septic shock. As she needed urgent specialist treatment, they immediately airlifted her to the closest major trauma hospital, but during the flight Dani's "heart stopped beating." She remembers paramedics surrounding her just before she went unconscious: "I just remember them talking to me... and then next thing you know I didn't hear them any more." Dani was in a critical condition when she landed and doctors fought to save her life, putting her on life support and preparing her family "to say their goodbyes." Miraculously, after a week in a medically-induced coma, Dani survived - but during the coma, her blood had not been reaching her limbs. Doctors had to make the difficult decision to amputate her legs and her hands and as Dani faced up to her new reality, she knew there were months of gruelling rehabilitation ahead of her. She met the challenge head on: "I couldn't see life like this at first, but I also thought 'I'm a strong person and I feel like I can do this’." Two years on from her traumatic ordeal, Dani is still adjusting to life with prosthetics and continuing to work hard on her mobility and strength. She attends physical therapy weekly and goes to her local gym as often as she can, after owner Mike offered to help her adapt exercises to push her new body to new limits. And Dani is also keen to get back to her successful career as a hair and makeup artist - she has been practising at home on her dad's hair, coming up with techniques that enable her to use clippers and brushes again. The culmination of years of determination to regain her independence is not lost on Dani, as she told Truly: "I feel like I'm me again" - and Ricky and Mariana testify to the courage she has shown to get to this point. Ricky puts her incredible recovery down to the fact that "Dani is an extremely strong person - if anyone could do this, it's definitely Dani" and Mariana's belief in her sister is just as unwavering: "I just knew that this wasn't going to stop her."
Follow Dani:
https://www.tiktok.com/@dani22official
https://www.instagram.com/dani22
https://www.youtube.com/@Dani22official
https://linktr.ee/dani22official
With thanks to Scotts Valley Gym:
https://www.scottsvalleygym.com
https://www.instagram.com/ScottsValleyGym
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NewsTranscript
00:00Covid-19 took my hands and legs. We went from you know being on a road trip and like happy and then
00:06next thing you know my chest was hurting like really really bad. We got to the hospital
00:11their diagnosis was covid. Heart failure, respiratory failure, kidney failure, struggling
00:17to breathe. I was airlifted to another hospital and during the flight my heart stopped beating.
00:22What was the last memory of that helicopter flight? Oh god um
00:27uh sorry. Two years later I'm still recovering and I've learned to walk on my prosthetics and
00:37gain my strength. We're getting ready to do my sister's makeup and I'm so excited because I
00:43haven't done makeup on anybody else in about two to three years. All right let's turn you around.
00:50You ready for breakfast? Yeah what do you want? Let's do some eggs. Okay sounds good.
00:57You're gonna have to crack them for me. My life before this was very active and very busy. I've
01:04been a hairstylist for almost 13 years and I basically just did that six days a week. Went
01:11to the gym almost every day and took care of my dogs and just kind of went day by day and kept
01:17myself healthy that way. I can do a lot of the stuff. I can use you know little utensils like
01:22this and Ricky kind of helps me with more of the fine tune stuff I would say. Teamwork. Teamwork
01:30makes the dream work. That's a great job actually. Yeah yeah I try my best. Tell us about the road
01:38trip you were on before events unfolded. Me my sister and my boyfriend we went from here in
01:44California to Colorado to go see my sister's house. This is like the last selfie with my hand.
01:51Right before we got into Colorado was kind of when I started noticing when things
01:56starting progressively get worse. It was just really hard for me to move around in general.
02:00She was sweating a lot. She had a lot of loss for words. My chest felt heavy and
02:05I knew something was happening. That pretty much was the point where I was like okay like
02:10I really got to pay attention to what she's going on. I basically told her I was like we're
02:14getting in the car and like we're going to the hospital. We got to the hospital like really late
02:19night. You know they hooked me up to all these things doing a bunch of tests on me. Previously
02:24I've had pericarditis and myocarditis. It has to do with like inflammation of the heart. COVID
02:30itself came in fat in play with my heart and when you have a viral infection like that my major
02:37organs couldn't really fight the virus. Their diagnosis was you know heart failure, respiratory
02:45failure, kidney failure and septic shock. That night they airlifted me to another hospital.
02:53The things that we've been through we would never have ever dreamed of or even thought of.
03:00Yeah. The past two years. You were working. I was working hard like. Yeah we both had full-time jobs.
03:05Going to the gym all the time and then like life just went meow and that's it. What was the last
03:13memory of that helicopter flight? Oh god. Sorry. I remember them pulling me out on a gurney.
03:29They rolled me into the helicopter, put me in, strapped me in and I just remember them talking
03:34to me and we took off. I just remember like seeing them but everything sounded so like blank
03:39and then next thing you know like I didn't hear them anymore and then that's when I that's the
03:44last thing I remember.
03:52Sorry.
04:00I knew this was going to be hard.
04:05Okay. When I was in the helicopter my heart had failed and once I got there they had to put me on
04:14life support. They told my family that they didn't think I was going to make it and that
04:18basically they had to say their goodbyes. I sat on the floor and really just was watching her.
04:26She was just laying there in her hospital bed in a coma and
04:34just remember looking at her and just realizing that
04:39things are going to be a lot different from now on. Let's get these guys on.
04:44So first we got to put these little pins in. While I was in my coma my body like swelled up
04:51really big and the blood wasn't flowing to my limbs. I had my right leg amputated first I believe
05:00then my hands and then my left leg. Within a week I lost all my limbs after catching COVID-19.
05:07I was at that hospital for three months. Two years later I'm still recovering and I've learned to
05:14walk on my prosthetics and gain my strength. I couldn't see life like this at first but I also
05:20thought I'm like a strong person and I feel like I can do this. This is just one
05:27little bump in the road that's maybe not so little. It has a little hole where the
05:34pin locks and this right here is how you kind of unlock it and this is what I have
05:40kind of a problem with because I don't have like the dexterity to do all that.
05:44I got two prosthetic legs and then a prosthetic arm that I use every once in a while. Prosthetics
05:49alone are $80,000 a leg minimum so it's it's a lot of expenses and to this day I mean I still have
06:00constant medical bills. The funding page that my sister set up for me actually it helped me a lot
06:05but it's been rough. Off to the gym. Bam. So my local gym they the owner there he reached out to
06:15me and he said you know we want to help you as a family and I'll figure out workouts for you we'll
06:21we'll adjust to things I can adjust the gym. I was in shock when he said that I was so happy to hear
06:27that. Hey Mike. Good how are you? Oh good to see you. Good to see you. You're good. I just I like to guide. That's okay.
06:38Seeing her journey and what she was going through and pushing through
06:42and just to have her in here is amazing. When I first came back to the gym I cried. I cried a lot.
06:50Mike came with open arms and he let me back into the gym and it's a place that I can come and
06:56work on my health and just get stronger in general. Posting on social media was actually
07:02Posting on social media was actually really hard for me. It took me a while to get to that point
07:08where I could like tell my story because I didn't know what I was going to receive from that. I
07:14wanted to post to help others like I was helped in the hospital because when I was in the hospital
07:21I looked up you know amputee journeys and and other videos and I saw so many like inspiring
07:27videos that helped me. Looking at those videos made me want to be that person for another person.
07:33The support online has been great for the most part. The there are a few people that you know
07:38leave rude comments or some stuff like that like they'll say something rude about me not having
07:44legs or whatever it may be but this it's like 98% like support. Now we're going to go to my salon
07:54where I used to work doing hair and makeup and I have a little bit of a surprise for my sister
07:59as she's going to meet us there and I'm hoping that she's going to be excited.
08:06This is my salon. Oh my god I'm so happy to be here. I own this place and I love it. Here's our
08:13front area. You know our clients come in and they get a good shampoo over on this side and yeah I
08:19kind of I built everything redid you know the wall back there and made it my own and I absolutely
08:26love it. We're getting ready to do my sister's makeup and I'm so excited because I haven't done
08:32makeup on anybody else in about two to three years. I've actually I have a doll head that I've been
08:39working on with color. I've cut like my sister's hair with a little clipper and I've cut my
08:47boyfriend's hair multiple times. I use like a attachment so I'm kind of working with like
08:53different adaptive equipment for hair cutting and hair coloring and hopefully one day I'll get back
08:59in the salon. I'm hoping soon. Hey come on I have something for you. You do? What is it? Is it cookies?
09:11No turn around. Your makeup? You're gonna do my makeup today? Yes. Perfect. It's been so long. I need it.
09:18Oh my gosh okay have a seat. All right are you ready? I was born ready.
09:25Oh my gosh it's been so long. What if I mess it up? It's okay. How is this gonna go? We're gonna
09:30find out real quick. Oh gosh I'm nervous. What has it been like to watch your sister go through the last
09:36few years? It's been hard for sure just because I know that she wasn't expecting this just like
09:46any of us weren't expecting this to happen to her but she's handled it with the most like grace
09:54and determination that I've ever seen out of anybody. I mean she just keeps going and even
10:00when it's hard that doesn't stop her. I feel like I'm me again. I feel like doing makeup right now
10:08just makes me feel like you know I can't I can do this to just anybody. I know this is my sister
10:14that I'm doing this on right now but I feel like I can take clients and like maybe do makeup for
10:20events again and get back to doing what I love because this just makes me feel like I'm at home.
10:26Wow you look beautiful.
10:30Are you ready? I'm ready. You're all glammed up. Oh my gosh this is so exciting.
10:36All right let's turn you around.
10:40Oh my god you did so good. It looks so pretty. You're like a supermodel.
10:46You know I'm on my way to style down.
10:50Yay. Really good. Thank you. You're welcome. I've had a lot of downfalls and a lot of days where I
10:58just want to stay inside and you know not do anything but you know my boyfriend, my sister,
11:04my mom, my dad and like everybody around me, my friends, every single person that has been with
11:09me through this whole thing has been such a great support. I was proud before all this happened.
11:16She's worked so hard for everything she's had.
11:21It's okay. Sorry. But I just knew that once we found out this was gonna happen
11:29that this wasn't gonna stop her. Like I felt it. Ricky felt it. We all felt it and
11:37for me it's like dang like you really are just battling through this like and not very many
11:42people have to deal with something like this so yeah proud is an understatement for sure.
11:48Dani is an extremely strong person. I've honestly never met anyone more independent and more
11:55powerful one step in front of the other kind of person. If anybody could do this it's definitely
12:01Dani. I think what I would like people to take away from my story is no matter what life throws
12:07at you like keep going. For me when this happened I felt like I changed but I didn't. I'm still the
12:14same person and I want people to like know that no matter what you look like, no matter what happens
12:19to you, you can continue on and be be who you are.