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A 38-year-old healthcare worker who spent 68 days in intensive care with coronavirus, mostly in an induced coma and on a ventilator, has warned young people that they cannot take the virus lightly.
Jerick Martin, who contracted Covid-19 while working as a caregiver at a nursing home in North Co Dublin, says doctors called his wife twice and told her that she might not survive the disease while battling the disease. multi-organ failure due to Covid-19.
The Filipino, who has lived in Ireland for 14 years, lost 22 kilos, or 3½ stone, during the two months he spent at Beaumont Hospital in Dublin from April to June.
“When I came out of the hospital, it looked like a zombie, it was skin and bones,” he said.
More than two months after leaving the hospital, Jerick now has diabetes, high blood pressure, and trouble breathing when climbing stairs as a result of his Covid-19 infection.
Formerly a fit and healthy thirty-something, says that younger people should be careful.
“They need to take this seriously. I’m only 38 years old. I didn’t think what happened to me would happen. He had no diabetes or hypertension before. Now I need to inhale a ventolin inhaler. I get out of breath if I go up and down the stairs. Sometimes I feel nauseous, ”he said.
It has been almost five months since Jerick contracted the virus.
Struggling to breathe
On Wednesday, April 15, she began to wheeze two days after working a weekend shift at the nursing home. He called in sick that day.
The Finglas man called his GP and was tested for Covid-19 at the Croke Park testing center in Dublin. When the test result came back positive the following Sunday, he had a fever and trouble breathing. He was taken to the hospital the next day.
Struggling to breathe, Jerick was intubated and hooked up to a ventilator on April 23. He remained ventilated and in a coma until May 20. His wife, Melissa Rose, says the nurses made a video call to his house and showed him nodding and nodding to the camera.
“We were all crying. We were so happy that he was awake. I called his family. We could see that he was following orders. It took a great weight off our hearts, ”he said.
Jerick was allowed to see his wife and 12-year-old daughter again because they had contracted Covid-19 and made a full recovery. However, his condition deteriorated further and he was put back into an induced coma to help his body fight the infection.
Jerick Martin: “I didn’t have diabetes or hypertension before. Now I need to inhale a ventolin inhaler. “Photo: Nick Bradshaw
“We got a call from the hospital at one in the morning. My daughter and I were still awake. It was her birthday. I said, ‘Maybe it’s your dad and he means happy birthday,’ ”Melissa said.
Jerick’s wife was told to go to the hospital right away to see him.
‘Hell’
“It was shocking. My daughter felt like she was unlucky because it was her birthday and this happened to him. It felt really bad, ”said Melissa.
She was surprised to see her husband in the prone position surrounded by tubes in the ICU.
“It was really heartbreaking to see him like this and that a young man was going through so much trouble,” he said.
Melissa describes her husband’s two months in the hospital as “like living hell for us.”
“I didn’t know when this was going to end. Every day was a time bomb, “he said.
Jerick Martin said that looking back, being able to see his wife and daughter during their hospital stay gave him a “great boost” and helped him recover.
“When I saw my daughter, I knew that I needed to recover because she is very young,” he said.
Now, with his recovery from Covid-19, he feels like he has been given a second chance.
“Before, I didn’t pray every day. Now, every day that I get up in the morning, I pray to thank God for giving me a second life, so that I can see my daughter grow up, ”he said.
“If you get this, it is very difficult. For others, it is like mild symptoms. We cannot take this lightly. It has changed our lives. “
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