‘You Just Can’t Give Up’: Surviving COVID-19 With Down Syndrome

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s list of medical problems that increase risk from the coronavirus includes common conditions like cancer, heart disease and obesity  — plus a recent addition you might not guess: Down syndrome.

People with Down syndrome are prone to serious illness — or even death — if they contract COVID-19.

“I said, ‘Why me? Why do I have COVID?’ ” said Jonathan Derr, a Cape Cod grocery worker with Down syndrome, after he survived a bout with the coronavirus in January.

Derr, 41, said he experienced chills and headaches, and understood that the disease could be particularly dangerous because he has Down syndrome.

“I heard about it,” Derr said. “I heard about it with friends who have Down syndrome also. But you just can’t give up.”

Derr didn’t give up, even during a scary stretch that included a trip to Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston.

Read the rest of the story at WBUR’s website.