A Virginia woman with a rare disease has been giving herself intravenous fluids for years to maintain her health. But a recent nationwide shortage of intravenous fluids has forced Jamie Aguilar to spend the last six weeks in the hospital.

Baxter International Inc., in Marion, North Carolina, produces 60 percent of the nation’s IV fluids. Hurricane Helene devastated their factory.

Since Helene hit in September 2024, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has given the company permission to extend the expiration dates of several IV products to try to restore a normal supply. But according to the Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association, Virginia hospitals still have to keep their products.

Home infusion companies, like the one Aguilar has relied on for nearly 42 years, are struggling to access IV fluids.

“If I don’t have that, I can’t live,” Aguilar said. “So I do what I have to do to live.”

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Aguilar was born with a rare disease and her body doesn’t absorb the electrolytes she needs through food and drink. She relies on intravenous fluids to stay alive.

She was able to administer them via daily intravenous infusion at home for her entire life, so she could maintain some sort of normalcy.

“I’ve never had to be admitted to the hospital for an electrolyte imbalance because I can maintain all of that on my own at home,” Aguilar said. “I don’t have a nurse at home to help me. I do everything, so I can live my life. And now I’ve just been in the hospital for almost six weeks. That’s it, you I I know, it was hard.”

Since Hélène, she must receive her fluids daily at Johnston-Willis Hospital.

“I miss my people,” Aguilar said. “I miss my friends. I miss my family. Driving my car with the windows down, just going to a coffee shop, sitting and having coffee and people watching, just having the windows down and the sun on my face. I Haven’t felt the sun for almost six weeks.

In addition to the shortage of IV fluids, Aguilar says she also learned that the home infusion company she has been using for the past few years no longer prepares or mixes IV fluids with the supplements she needs to live.

Her care team at the hospital is working hard to find a company that will provide her with IV bags at home.

“It’s a team effort, but it’s so difficult when I’m here. I’m taking care of other things, my health, and just trying to get by,” he said. she declared. “I need all the help I can get. So for anyone who sees this and can help me, it would do wonders for me.”

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The Virginia Hospital and Healthcare Association notes that Baxter International plans to achieve 100% assignment of several IV product codes by the end of the year. They also explained that Baxter anticipated a gradual increase in benefits in late November and mid-December.

Over the past week, the company was able to restart one manufacturing line and announced plans to restore a second line.

These two lines represent approximately 50% of the facility’s total production capacity and approximately 85% of the production of the one-liter IV solutions most commonly used by hospitals and clinics.

But there is still no firm timeline for when we can expect production to be fully restored to pre-hurricane levels.

This story was originally published by Caroline Coleburn at Scripps News Richmond.