Real Housewives of Dallas star D’Andra Simmons has revealed she’s taking part in a Covid drug trial with Regeneron, after she was hospitalised with coronavirus.
The 51-year-old was diagnosed with the virus just days after she came out of surgery for a full ankle replacement, but she is now hoping to give back by joining the trial.
Speaking exclusively to Daily Star about her horrifying ordeal, D’Andra said: “That was a complete shock to me.
“My husband’s very good friend passed away from Covid a week before I was in the hospital, it was a horrible, heart-wrenching thing, I was very good friends with his wife.
D’Andra Simmons returns for The Real Housewives of Dallas season 5 (Image: Getty)
“When I became ill, I’d had major ankle surgery, a full ankle replacement, and two days after I came home and said, ‘I’m just not feeling well.’
“I called the doctor and got a Covid test, and lo-and-behold, 5am the next morning I was diagnosed.”
She said: “You never know where you contracted it, never, ever. You want to put the pieces together but it’s not that easy.”
D’Andra was admitted to hospital the next day as she “wasn’t breathing well” and her oxygen level was “very low”.
D’Andra was hospitalised with Covid days after a full ankle replacement surgery (Image: Instagram)
She explained that she was given remdesivir antibodies, but also decided to join the worldwide Regeneron trial.
“There’s 1500 people worldwide who are going to get the drug,” she said.
“Of those 1500 I believe it’s a third of that, because you don’t know if you’re going to get the placebo or the drug.”
D’Andra told us: “I just said to my husband, I don’t have little children, I can actually do this, I’m 51 years old, I think it’s the right thing for me to do for other people because this is such a horrible, horrible virus.
“He agreed and I went ahead and joined the trial.
“I’m still in the trial, I have my blood taken and my nose swabs every few days.
“I’m feeling pretty good and I’m interested to see how my progression over the next few months is different to the people that didn’t get it.”
The Real Housewives of Dallas cast (l-r) Kary Brittingham, Stephanie Hollman, D’Andra Simmons, Brandi Redmond, Kameron Westcott, Tiffany Moon (Image: NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
D’Andra said she knows “for a fact” that she was given the drug rather than the placebo, as her temperature spiked within 15 minutes.
She added: “I’m glad I could do that, that was something I gave back that way.”
The current season of Real Housewives of Dallas was filmed during the height of the pandemic last year.
D’Andra said it was “difficult” filming, though it gave her plenty of one-on-one time with her family and husband, Jeremy Lock.
She told us: “Of course I love being one-on-one with my husband, so that was not a problem, we enjoy each other’s company so much so we don’t have a problem with that stuff, we just enjoyed our together time.
“We made it work and I think that’s just the most important thing – we were able to make it work.”
D’Andra returned to the new season of The Real Housewives of Dallas with Stephanie Hollman, Brandi Redmond, Kameron Westcott, Kary Brittingham.
They were joined by new cast member Tiffany Moon.
The Real Housewives of Dallas is available to stream on hayu, with new episodes each Wednesday
Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
