She Still Can’t Pick Up Her Baby: Virus Survivor Gets New Lungs

METRO DETROIT, MI — After everything Jackie Dennis has gone through since November, when she checked into the hospital with COVID-19 symptoms, it’s remarkable the 31-year-old metro Detroit teacher can say now that she feels “pretty normal.”

She was 36 weeks pregnant at the time. Doctors at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit induced labor and her daughter, Mia Rose, was born in late November. Dennis developed pneumonia, and her lungs deteriorated to the point she was put on a ventilator and, later, another breathing device.

The treatments didn’t work.

Dennis underwent a double lung transplant in January, The Associated Press reported.

“Things are still a little hard, maybe taking too many steps, going up and down the stairs,” she said. “But generally speaking I can do almost everything I want to besides picking up Mia just yet.” » Read the full story on Detroit Patch

‘Genius Aretha’: Legend Comes To Life

Detroit Free Press music writer Brian McCollum takes a look at “Genius Aretha,” the eight-episode dramatized series chronicling Motown Queen of Soul Aretha Franklin’s rise from a church in Detroit to international fame.

Two episodes air nightly, Sunday through Wednesday, on National Geographic and will be available the following day on Hulu. » Read the full story on the Detroit Free Press

Metro Detroit Headlines

• More Tesla Troubles After Crash With Cop Car: A Tesla using its Autopilot feature struck a Michigan State Police car Wednesday — the latest in a series of crashes across the country that have gotten the attention of federal highway safety officials, via Detroit Patch.
• Charges Against Snyder Can Move Forward: A District Court judge in Genesee County on Thursday green-lighted misdemeanor charges against former Gov. Rick Snyder over his handling of the Flint water crisis, via The Detroit News.
• GM’s Return-To-Work Plan For Salaried Workers: The automaker is shuffling where white-collar workers do their jobs and giving them more flexibility to work from home, via the Detroit Free Press.

“The lake is a very living organism, and it changes every day, basically. Things get covered and uncovered all the time.”

— Michigan Shipwreck Research Association Director Craig Rich to The Detroit News on changes in Lake Michigan water levels that revealed a shipwreck from the 1880s

SPORTS TALK: This could get awkward. The Los Angeles Rams traded defensive tackle Michael Brockers to the Detroit Lions. The trade itself isn’t what’s awkward, Yahoo Sports reported, but what Brockers said when the two clubs traded quarterbacks. Matthew Stafford is heading to the Rams, while Jared Goff goes to Detroit. “Is it a level up?” Brockers said earlier this month upon learning Stafford would join the Rams. “In my heart, deeply, just understanding what he brings, it’s a level up. It’s a level up.”

WEATHER IN A WORD: Volatile.

LET’S MAKE PLANS: Kids can have their pictures taken with the Easter Bunny ib Friday through April 3 at the Oakland Mall in Troy, via Oakland Mall.

• Flashlight Egg Hunt: Pre-registration is required at this event billed as “not your typical egg hunt” for kids 9-15 at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Camp Agawam, 1301 W. Clarkston Road, Lake Orion, via Orion Township Parks & Rec.
• Spring Break Sand Casting: Willow Greenhouse, 7839 Curtis Road, Northville, offers this socially distanced event at 11 a.m. Saturday as a way “to remember your beachy-time.” All supplies are provided, via Eventbrite.

» Subscribe to Patch. Click the link to find your community and sign up for free newsletters and real-time news alerts.