I spent 30 days in a coma fighting for me life  - and what happened next changed everything

An Illinois pistillate spent 30 days successful a medically induced coma warring for her life, but everything changed the infinitesimal she woke up.

Victoria Cupay was diagnosed with lupus, but successful 2019 she reacted to a medicine that caused her tegument to shed and organs to deteriorate.

She spent the period hooked up to tubes, a breathing instrumentality and household and friends praying she would survive.

Doctors yet began to reduce the medicine that enactment her into a coma and connected August 19, Cupay opened her eyes spot to her fellow Nick Baldo lasting astatine her bedside with a diamond ringing and a question to ask.

'He really asked my ma earlier helium proposed, due to the fact that that was 1 of my requests mode earlier I got sick. He respected that wish,' Cupay told DailyMail.com.

'He decided to bash it past due to the fact that I had a batch of adjacent calls to death. And helium said that if I don't marque it, I volition astatine slightest person a bully memory.'

The mates joined connected August 19, 2022, precisely 3 years aft the connection to let Cupay to retrieve and the COVID pandemic to subside.

They besides welcomed a babe lad this year, Peter, which Cupay antecedently believed would ne'er happen.

'Lupus patients are prone to miscarriages, and truthful it was a high-risk pregnancy. We wanted him for the longest time,' she said.

'He loves playing with books, and helium loves steak and asparagus. He's conscionable a joyousness successful life.'

Cupay, who is present property 28, was a nursing pupil successful 2016 erstwhile she was hospitalized for a fever and fixed the Lupus diagnosis.

The information happens erstwhile the body's immune strategy mistakes its tissues and organs arsenic foreign, making proteins called autoantibodies that onslaught them.

According to the Mayo Clinic, the illness causes inflammation, affecting joints, skin, kidneys, humor cells, brain, bosom and lungs.

It's inactive chartless what causes lupus but sunlight, stress, smoking, definite medicines, and viruses whitethorn trigger symptoms successful radical who are astir apt to get lupus owed to their genes.

Hormones specified arsenic estrogen. Lupus is much communal successful women during their childbearing years erstwhile estrogen levels are highest.

There is nary cure for the illness but treatments tin assistance trim symptoms.

'I went from taking nary medications to taking much medications than my grandmother. It was specified a large change, they told maine that it's incurable,' Cupay said.

'No 1 successful my household has it, truthful I didn't truly cognize what my beingness would look like.'

She began surviving what she describes arsenic a 'new normal', though her medicine had broadside effects including value gain.

'There were broadside comments specified as, 'Oh, are you Victoria? You gained truthful overmuch weight. I tin hardly admit you. You look pregnant,' said Cupay.

But successful 2019, things took a crook for the worse erstwhile she was diagnosed with Stevens-Johnson syndrome and toxic epidermal necrolysis.

Both are life-threatening tegument disorders caused by an immune strategy overreaction to a trigger, specified arsenic medication, resulting successful blisters, peeling and rashes.

'My ma brought maine to the exigency country and everything conscionable went downhill,' Cupay explained.

'I was enactment successful an ICU Burn Unit. I'm not technically a pain victim, but what happened to maine was I was burning wrong retired from wrong out.

'What was happening connected my skin, it was sloughing off. That was besides happening successful my intestines and different organs.'

At the time, Baldo was surviving successful San Francisco and the infirmary wherever Cupay stayed was extracurricular of Chicago.

Cupay, calved and raised successful the Philippine state of Bohol, immigrated to Beach Park successful 2011, but 7 years aboriginal she was visiting California wherever she met Baldo astatine a nightclub.

She asked him to creation and helium asked for her telephone number.

The 2 met successful April 2018 astatine a nightclub successful the California City portion she was visiting.

Cupay asked Baldo to creation and helium past asked for her telephone number.

As destiny had it, helium was from a suburb of Chicago and planned connected visiting 2 weeks later.

The 2 met again aft Baldo arrived successful Illinois and took turns visiting each other.

But Baldo booked a one-way summons erstwhile Cupay was admitted to the hospital.

'He knew it was going to beryllium a long, agelong journey,' she said.

From June 2019 to February 2020, Cupay was successful and retired of 8 antithetic infirmary facilities and I had to larn however to walk, talk, and devour again done carnal and occupational therapy.

She spent 240 days successful the infirmary - with issues including vomiting each time due to the fact that her intestines were affected and having a tracheotomy failed to heal owed to malnourishment.

Baldo officially moved backmost to Illinois during the pandemic.

'Throughout each of that, Nick was beside me. We were unneurotic during the pandemic, and that was a precise important infinitesimal successful my recovery,' Cupay.

And past year, Cupay graduated from the University of Arizona with a bachelor's grade successful nationalist health.

'It's been a agelong journey, but I decidedly had a batch of down moments, moments wherever I wanted to springiness up, yeah,' she said.

'I would not person made it without my enactment system, I would accidental that I wouldn't person survived this without them.' 

She shared her communicative connected TikTok, becoming an instant prima sparked by a connection video and a wedding video successful 2022. 

'I did not expect it to spell viral, and it conscionable snowballed from there,' said Cupay.

'People started asking astir our emotion story, and erstwhile it went viral, I took that accidental to rise much consciousness astir lupus and what truly happened to me

'I thought possibly this is the cleanable clip for maine to truly get superior astir raising much awareness.