Odessa Triathlete in a Coma After Contracting Covid-19

ODESSA, TX – An Odessa native and triathlete is in a coma after his family says he was diagnosed with a variant strain of COVID-19.

According to his family, 39-year-old Jerry Tschauner returned from a trip to Brazil at the end of March. He soon began coughing up mucus and believed he could sleep it off.

Unfortunately, Tschauner's condition worsened until he had difficulty breathing. He was eventually transported to a local hospital by ambulance.

Tschauner is now on a ventilator at Medical Center Hospital, where doctors have found blood clots in his lungs and right leg. He was officially diagnosed with the P1 strain, which was first identified in Brazil.

“They call it pneumonia COVID – is what they call it in that perspective,” said Penny Roberts, Tschauner's mother.“The bottom part of his lungs they couldn’t hear anything and on the top part they’re called wet and that’s where the pneumonia comes in.”

According to Roberts, it has been shocking to see her son's health deteriorate so quickly, considering he stays fit to compete in Triathlons.

“You know everyone talks about overweight or heart defect there’s nothing,” she said. “Jerry was in picture-perfect health. He was just injured in the military.”

Tschauner’s prognosis remains
uncertain or what side effects he may have if he wakes up.

“When you see your son there lifeless,” she said. “That this disease has taken over our world. One minute we’re here, the next minute we’re not. And to know if he can make it out of this we don’t know.”