Who is Latasha Nichols? Texas TikTok user recalls how she almost died waiting for dialysis after power outage
Patients requiring dialysis in Texas were left stranded after hospitals and treatment centers lost power and water. Those needing the treatment thrice a week were the ones who struggled the most and one of them was Latasha Nichols. The Dallas woman has been on dialysis for four years and the place she goes to for treatment was closed due to lack of power and water.
After not being administered treatment for a week, she was also turned away from the hospital, according to a Daily Dot report. "I’m terrified but I have to stay calm,” Nichols said in a TikTok video posted on Thursday, February 18. "I got this far but I ain't gonna lie — I’m scared," she added.
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Who is Latasha Nichols?
Nichols, who goes by the username @lafloyn77 on TikTok appears to be an active user of the app and has shared her views on "Black Representation Matters" in some of her videos. The content creator spoke of the challenges in Texas after the winter storm and then uploaded a series of videos talking about her dialysis treatment. One of the clips sees her say that her face was puffy. "I’m full of fluids," she said.
"The hospitals are all flooded with us that are on dialysis,” Nichols said. “That’s why I was turned away because they’re only gonna help the people that they feel are most in need while the rest of us have to fend for ourselves or wait at home," she added. You can watch the videos here:
@lafloyn77 ##winterintexas2021 ##fyp ##Dallas ##foryoupage ##dialysis ##disability
♬ original sound - Latasha Nichols
@lafloyn77 ##joy ##grace ##ancestors ##Dallas ##disability ##texasweather2021 ##dialysis ##God ##grace
♬ original sound - Latasha Nichols
@lafloyn77 All praises due to God! ##Dallas ##dialysis ##dallasweather2021 ##joy ##ancestors ##disability ##prayers ##God
♬ original sound - Latasha Nichols
Nichols went on for a week without dialysis and in one of the videos said she could hear her dead parents talking to her. "I could hear my mother in one ear saying ‘It’s OK baby’,” she said. Eventually, she got a call saying she could head to the hospital the next day. "I am so happy, just thank y’all for your prayers and the love," Nichols said in her follow-up video. "It’s over now," she added relieved.
CEO of Texas Kidney Foundation, Tiffany Jones-Smith, in an interview with KEN 5, said that there were over 750 dialysis clinics in Texas that were hit badly by the storm. "The thought that weather could impact us in this way and that our leadership wouldn’t have been prepared didn’t even enter anybody’s mind," Jones-Smith said. "But we’ve got over 50% of the dialysis clinics that are not operational."
"Water is essential to the process of dialyzing so you’re literally seeing patients who don’t have any place to go to get the care they need,” Jones-Smith said. “Your life is in peril with every day you don’t receive the treatment."