Mother of 2 with diabetes gets coronavirus and is left with brain damage

FOX 2 - A Taylor woman's life has been changed forever because of COVID-19 and now she is in dire need of help. She will need to be moved to an acute rehab facility but not many are willing to take here because she had the virus.

"It is a lot, it is really overwhelming," said Wanavia Wilson. "Some nights I just cried all night, I didn't know what to do."

Wanavia Wilson has been by her daughter's side since mid-May. Shantel Wilson, a 25-year-old mother of two small children, suffers from Type 1 diabetes. On May 12th she went to sleep and her blood sugar dropped to dangerous levels.

"When she is awake she notices the symptoms, the shakiness, the dizziness and she'll go and tested herself and eat something if it is low, because she was sleeping when it happened. She just kept sleeping and never woke up. (She was in a coma) for four days."

Doctors told her mother that Shantel suffered severe brain damage. Although she didn't have any symptoms, a routine test also revealed Shantel had COVID-19, which may have caused her blood to drop.  She is now at Beaumont Farmington.

"She needs neurological therapies, speech therapy, physical therapy and occupational therapy," Wanavia said. "Because her sugar was low for an undetermined amount of time, they said they said going that long caused significant damage to both sides of her brain and it affecting her speech and her behaviors. So right now, she is basically a child again."

Shantel will need to be moved to an acute rehab facility, but her mother says because she had coronavirus - no facility has been willing to take her.

"Things were starting to pick up for her," her mother said. "I was so happy and so proud of her when she bought her first house. I was so proud of her when she got her degree, and I was like things are going so well for you and then (this)."

Wanavia has been off work because of the pandemic and has been doing what she can to scrape enough money together to care for Shantel's young son and prepare her home to care for her daughter, who won't be able to do anything for herself.

She has started a GoFundMe page to help offset some of the costs. Wanavia knows so many people are struggling right now, but says anything would be appreciated.

"As a parent you want the best for your kids and it is just hard when you see your kid struggling," she said. "She is very stubborn, very smart, very hard working. I am hoping and praying that thing about her that makes her so stubborn and such a fighter., will help her get past this."

Shantel said her first words today. If you would like to contribute, GO HERE.