Tasmanian man, 84, had COVID-19 for 11 weeks with no symptoms

An 84-year-old Tasmanian grandad has had six hip replacements, been hit by a truck, broken a leg, survived bladder cancer, has heart issues and an aortic aneurysm … and now he’s survived the COVID-19 virus. Read his remarkable story.

WALLY Bridges has had six hip replacements, been hit by a truck, broken a leg, survived bladder cancer and, at age 84, has heart issues and an aortic aneurysm.

He should have been horribly vulnerable to COVID-19 but, when he caught it, he barely felt it.

“He’s like an old boot, he doesn’t wear out, he just keeps on going,” said Jill, his wife of 38 years.

Mr Bridges was in hospital in Burnie, on the state’s North-West Coast, in March with a bladder infection when COVID-19 broke out due to a Ruby Princess cruise contact, which forced the hospital’s closure. More than 1200 health care workers were placed in quarantine, all patients and staff were tested — and Mr Bridges was one of 200 confirmed cases.

Somerset 82-year-old Wally Bridges is finally home. Picture: GRANT WELLS

Everyone feared the worst as he was transferred to Mersey Hospital.

“When I first went upstairs there were five of us [with COVID-19] and two of them died — that really got to me seeing them wheeled out — but I was never sick, I had no symptoms of the virus whatsoever,” Mr Bridges said.

Isolated and tended to by staff dressed head to toe in protective equipment, Mr Bridges, who “felt like a leper” kept testing positive to the virus for 11 long weeks.

“Where’s Wally? He’s still in the hospital, where else would he be?” Mrs Bridges has said for the past 10 weeks and five days as her “old boot” continued to test positive but showed no symptoms.

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As the weeks dragged on the couple, who were not allowed to see each other, were given a reprieve to celebrate their 38th wedding anniversary.

“I was not allowed to see him, I’d go to the car park and wave,” Mrs Bridges, 72, said.

“On our wedding anniversary we got to see each other through a glass door.”

Although it was a long process, the Bridges have wondered what would have happened if he had not been identified as positive and allowed to go home, unaware he had the virus.

“That’s what we are afraid of, it’s so contagious and especially with children, there are no symptoms,” Mrs Bridges said.

Finally, last week he returned two negative tests after almost three months of being infectious.

Wally Bridges. Picture: GRANT WELLS

The grandfather of 20, with two great-grandkids on the way, finally got to go home.

“It’s like getting out of prison,” he said. Mr and Mrs Bridges lived in Melbourne where he ran a successful importing business.

After retirement, the couple took the ferry to Devonport and fell in love with Stanley where they decided to settle.

“We just fell in love with the place, we bought a house and renovated and we thought we’d live there for 12 months but it turned into 12 years,” Mr Bridges said.

But after suffering bowel cancer two decades ago, Mrs Bridges urged her husband to move to Somerset.

“When I developed health problems, Jill thought it would be better to move closer to the hospital in Burnie,” Mr Bridges said.

Mrs Bridges had seen her husband’s dogged determination before back in Melbourne.

“He has had six hip replacements and one became infected, so for 10 months he was without a hip, but he wouldn’t stay home, he turned his golf buggy into a scooter and he would go into town for coffee, but he got run over by a truck didn’t he, and broke his leg with a spiral fracture. They had to cut five centimetres off his leg to fit another hip. He’s like an old soldier,” she said.

That was the last time Mr Bridges stayed in hospital for a long stint. But this time it was different because he was so well.

“I lost track of time. After five or six weeks, I did not know what day it was … it was scary.”

Mr Bridges was born in 1936 and grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Thornley, the only child of loving parents. At age 14 though, he took off to “see the world”.

“I had very loving parents, but I made a snap decision to venture out and see the world so I ran away for three years and ended up in NSW where I worked in a metal spinning factory making lampshades. I never got into mischief.”

Mr Bridges is partial to a tipple of scotch or a glass of red each night, and even though he had a cheeky red in his bag, he did not open it.

“I had a bottle of red wine in the bag next to my bed and I just self-imposed prohibition for me because the atmosphere was wrong. You’ve got to have atmosphere when you have a drink.”