A Victorian teacher who recently emerged from intensive care after catching COVID-19 has spoken about the random nature of the virus, and how he thought he was going to die from it.
Richard, who teaches at Bacchus Marsh Grammar about 60 kilometres north-west of Melbourne, caught the virus from a friend who lives at Maribyrnong’s Ariele Apartments.
The pair attended a Carlton versus Geelong game at the MCG on July 10, not realising the apartment complex had been visited by removalists from Sydney who had the virus.
Speaking to Rafael Epstein on ABC Melbourne’s Drive program on Friday afternoon, the 51-year-old said he was fit and healthy before he caught the virus.
He said he’s now COVID-free, but has pneumonia and has lost 15 kilograms in muscle mass since getting the virus.
Describing the football catch-up, he said,“[It was] a zero case day in Melbourne that day, I remember it, and 10 days later I was in intensive care.The sheer random nature of it.”
Richard said he felt fine at work a couple of days after he went to the AFL game, but then on Tuesday, he felt a little scratch in the back of his throat and went to get a COVID test.
While in the line waiting to get tested, his friend told him his apartment complex had gone into lockdown because it was visited by the Sydney removalists.
On day seven of having the virus, Richard rang the ambulance.
“I was really scared because I couldn’t breathe - I couldn’t get my breath back, so I knew it wasn’t good,” he said.
“The first two days [in intensive care] are a bit of a blur. I felt like I was hallucinating.
“The second night I was in there, I genuinely thought, ‘I can’t see a way out of this.’”
“A doctor about 3am in the morning held my hand and looked me in the eye and said: ‘You’re strong enough. We’ll get you through this.’”
Richard urged everyone to get vaccinated against COVID-19 as soon as they could, because “you never know”.
He’d had one dose of the AstraZeneca vaccine when he caught the virus. “I’m a 51-year-old, I look after myself, lift weights in the gym, all that sort of stuff, and it has absolutely floored me,” he said.