GLENS GAFFER: MY COVID HELL
Boss told his wife‘I can’t fight this anymore’
Willie Harvey has revealed his battle with Covid was so fierce he almost gave up and says being struck down with the virus was like “someone switching off a light.”
When the Rutherglen Glencairn boss’ wife tested positive and had to self-isolate, Harvey took a PCR test and though it was also positive he felt fine on the Thursday – but within 24 hours he was going downhill fast and ended up on a ventilator.
While his own recollection of the next six days is hazy, Harvey says his wife recalls him saying’ “I can’t fight this anymore, I can’t do it on my own’.
Thankfully, Harvey is back on his feet now and was strong enough to even be in the Glencairn dugout for their WoSFL Strathclyde Demolition Cup quarter-final win over Neilston a fortnight ago, but doesn’t want anyone else to go through what he did.
He told the Reformer: “It was pretty scary. It took everything away from me.
“I took ill, and I was bedridden for nearly 10 days before I ended up in hospital, and I had paramedics out at me through the 10 days.
“My daughter-in-law is a nurse and her exact words to my wife were ‘phone 999 and get him into f ****** hospital’.
“My wife phoned 999, spoke to a doctor, the doctor spoke to me on the phone, but from this point on I don’t have any great memory of it, because I started realising what was going on.
“The doctor told her to get me into hospital because after listening to me they could tell there was something wrong with my lungs.
“From then it was basically a wee bit of a blur until the Wednesday when I started coming round out of it and everything was explained to me.
“The consultant made a big point about the fact that I had both vaccinations, and that I was healthy, and that had made a big difference to me, and was a prime reason why I managed to battle through it.
“At one point my wife says I said to her ‘I can’t fight this anymore, I can’t do it on my own’.”
Harvey added: “The problem seemed to be that all my tests were coming back fine, my oxygen levels and everything like that were showing healthy, and that was throwing them a curve ball, because obviously my body was telling them different things.
“They put me on oxygen and
gave me medication, and I’m glad to say I came out the other end of it.
“That was a massive relief, but more for my family, not so much for me.
“This is going to sound crazy, but I didn’t realise until later on how serious it actually had been. It was only after I got home and did all the tests, and because of the recovery period at home. I couldn’t go very far without being really breathless, up and down stairs was really tiring, and it was scary.
“I did hear about other people who had passed away, who I actually knew, so I count my blessings.”
Harvey knows Covid is a very real thing and, without preaching, wants to make sure people know that.
He said:“Please do take it seriously, because it is there. Out of my family they said I was the one person they never expected to get it, because I was probably about the healthiest or one of the healthiest in the family.
“The fact it floored me so much was unfathomable. My wife was positive so she did a PCR test and had to selfisolate, and I did a PCR which came back on the Thursday and I was positive. At that point I wasn’t up nor down, I wasn’t showing any symptoms, no signs of illness, I wasn’t feeling poorly and on the Friday‘bang’.
“It was like someone switching off a light, changing me from good to bad.
“From the Friday onwards I went downhill. I just deteriorated and it just wasn’t for leaving me without being treated properly.”