Coming back from COVID-19: Marylou and Jean-Philippe’s story

Transcript

Transcript

Marylou: My name is Marylou. I’m 25 years old.

Jean-Philippe: My name is Jean-Philippe, I’m 24 years old.

Marylou: Both of us have had COVID-19. Ever since I heard about COVID-19, I’ve never felt safe. I’m immunosuppressed which puts me at risk. My life is at stake and, if I’m not careful, I could lose everything.

The symptoms appeared quite abruptly. I started to have all the symptoms usually associated with COVID-19, other than a fever.

I could sleep on my days off for 16 to 20 hours out of 24. My condition continued to deteriorate, but, I became so extremely week that I lost consciousness.

Basically, after that, we decided to go to the hospital emergency room because my condition kept worsening.

Jean-Philippe: The month I spent without Marylou while she was in the hospital was very hard because I had little or no information on her condition, and I knew that she was at high risk.

Also, I was worried about my own condition. Was I going to get sicker? Would I have to go the hospital? What would happen if we were both in the hospital? So, it was very tough.

Marylou: Once I left the hospital and went back home, I was still afraid. I was wondering whether I would continue to expose Jean-Philippe to risk.

The main message that I would like people to take away from my story is the importance of safety and hygiene measures to protect themselves as well as the people around them.

We have to stop being individualistic and think about others. I was clearly able to see the impacts of the virus because two of my roommates died from it. They were next to me, having difficulty catching their breath, and then no longer able to breathe.

When there is a worldwide pandemic, and a virus that kills thousands of people, we need to take it seriously.