A Brooklyn woman is still fighting to fully recover from the long-term effects from COVID-19 two years after being diagnosed with the virus.

The long phase, or long COVID, happens to about 30% of the world's population, who after contracting the coronavirus, continue to suffer from its symptoms for months on end.

"The same kind of conditions that can predispose someone to have an adverse outcome in the hospital – obesity, cardiovascular disease, hypertension, diabetes, etc. – can also predisposed patient to greater risk in the long phase," explains Dr. Jeffrey Fine, director of Rehabilitation Medicine at NYU Langone Brooklyn. Fine works to bring his long COVID patients down the road to recovery.

One of Fine's patients is Jessenia Serrano, who says she was rushed to NYU Langone Brooklyn to be treated for COVID-19 two years ago .

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“She had an acute severe respiratory failure on a ventilator and her recovery is a demonstration that the body has the remarkable ability to heal," said Fine.

"If it wasn’t for God and those doctors and nurses, therapist…I wouldn’t be here. I would’ve given up, but I couldn’t. I had to stay strong. I’m still staying strong," Serrano says.

Serrano was part of the hospital's first wave of COVID-19 patients. She entered the emergency room with underlying conditions and failing lungs. Then, she woke up a month later.

"When I woke up, I couldn’t walk, I couldn’t write, I couldn’t talk. It was a scary feeling," Serrano recalls.

Two years later, Serrano undergoes rehabilitation at the hospital weekly.

"I’m still fighting. I still have some types of symptoms like the lungs... I still lose my balance, but I’m getting better," Serrano says.

Although she has not fully recovered from the virus, Serrano says she's determined and still has a lot of fight left in her.

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