CLEVELAND — A new Cleveland Clinic study shows bariatric surgery can be the difference between life and death for some patients fighting COVID-19.

Thirty-eight-year-old Aishia Jackson had weight loss surgery, a gastric sleeve, in September 2019. She believes she is living proof of the affect the surgery can have on the severity of COVID-19 symptoms.

“It definitely wasn’t for beauty. It was just strictly for my health,” said Jackson.

She said she struggled with her weight for about three years before going under the knife. She tried everything from working with a nutritionist, weight loss pills, body wraps, and more.

Since surgery, Jackson has lost 80 pounds.

"I've kind of reached a plateau and I still have more to go before I reach my personal goal," she said.

Regardless, she said the weight she's lost thus far made all the difference in April when she was diagnosed with COVID-19.

“It was definitely like a really terrible flu,” she said. “But how some people are struggling to breath, I didn’t have that issue and I honestly feel like it was because I didn’t have that weight on me anymore.”

Dr. Ali Aminian is the Director of the Cleveland Clinic Bariatric and Metabolic Institute. He studied 4,365 patients who tested positive for COVID-19 between March 8 and July 22. Jackson was one of those patients.

Dr. Aminian's research found "in patients with severe obesity, the risk of hospital admission was about 42% and in patients who had a history of bariatric surgery, months or years before contracting the COVID, the rate of hospital admission was only 18 percent."

According to Dr. Aminian, bariatric surgery "is not a cosmetic surgery." He said it can be a lifesaving, essential surgery for obese patients with COVID-19.

“This study shows that if a patient can lose weight and can keep the weight off for a long time, that can improve the clinical outcome of this infection,” said Dr. Arminian.

This was the case for Jackson. She credits her weight loss surgery in 2019 for not needing hospitalization in 2020 when she contracted COVID-19.

“It would have been detrimental to me if I had COVID prior to my weight loss surgery. Honestly, I believe that," said Jackson.

Jackson praises her physicians and medical team at the Cleveland Clinic and said it has inspired her to pursue a new career path. She is half way through school to become a licensed practical nurse.

She said she is weighing her options but, "honestly, I feel like I want to become a post-op bariatric nurse."