The mother of a Paralympian from Windsor-Essex has said her daughter's fight should be an inspiration to all.
Danielle Campo McLeod, who won seven Paralympic medals in swimming for Team Canada, continues to fight for her life in London's University Hospital, where she has been since last month after contracting sepsis following the birth of her third child.
Colleen Campo, Danielle's mother, has barely left her daughter's side since she became ill, but she told Windsor's Country morning host Morgan Ryan that it was a chain of events no one saw coming.
"My one line is 'She just went in to have a baby,'" said Campo. "We almost lost her three times where they called us in. You know it's bad when it's during COVID and they let the whole family in."
McLeod first entered the hospital for the birth on August 17 and found herself staying for treatment of a bowel obstruction, which was followed by pneumonia. She was hospitalized for three weeks before being allowed to take her newborn baby home, only to have to return to the hospital almost immediately.
Despite some encouraging progress made, Campo said she is far from out of the woods, with a long, difficult recovery period ahead.
"People will see that she's sitting up," said Campo. "Sitting up means that it takes four people to lift her back up and move her legs, and then she's like a rag doll. That's how weak she is. It's not that her muscles aren't working. They're just atrophied right now."
A GoFundMe page was set up by McLeod's husband Dennis to help support the family and pay for the rehabilitation she will need once she is discharged from the London hospital. The page has exceeded its $50,000 goal and raised over $85,000 by Thursday evening.
McLeod won her three gold medals at the 2000 Summer Paralympics in Sydney, Australia, for the 100-metre freestyle S-7 class; the 50-metre freestyle S-7 class; and the 4-by-100-metre freestyle relay 34 point class. She also collected a silver in Sydney, followed by a silver and two bronze four years later in Athens, Greece.
Campo said her daughter's drive and perseverance will be what gets her out of this.
"Our family has always had a deep faith. It has been tested," said Campo. "What happened now is no less than a miracle. So for us to reach out, I knew in my heart as a mother that the only thing to save her was a miracle."