Three harrowing stories of Covid-19 survivors
WHILE the number of coronavirus deaths has risen above 19 000 in the United Kingdom (UK), most people who contract the virus go on to get better.
The death toll which sees between 600 to 900 people dying every day in the UK could be very high.
The UK only gives figures of those who die in hospitals and only those who get to be tested.
Some people experience relatively mild symptoms, or even no symptoms at all. Others have no option, but get hospital treatment. I spoke to three people who were hospitalised after getting infected with Covid-19.
All are at different stages of their lives, and are recovering in isolation.
Rutendo Matikinya from Luton, England, is nine months pregnant with her first child. The 22-year-old started struggling with a persistent cough and a fever during the second week of March, but hospital staff were wary of bringing her in.
“One evening, I felt a heavy pressing on my chest. I struggled to breathe, I started coughing and the cough was so dry and painful. I felt like I was dying. I laboured to breathe, and each time I felt like a very red hot rod is shoved through my throat.
“That kind of pain is the pain which you will never cry even if you cry the voice will be busy to coin the rhythm of your cough. I was alone in my bedroom flat. I gathered all the strength I had to crawl to the table where my phone was.
“I called 999 and my breathing sounded so bad an ambulance was at my house within minutes. I was literally gasping for air so they put me on oxygen straight away,” she said.
Added Rutendo: “I tested positive for Covid-19 and the nurse told me I had pneumonia and was isolated in a hospital room for a week. No one was allowed to come and see me. It was a very lonely, dark time. I was bed-bound for six days.
“I couldn’t even go to the toilet. If they needed to change the bed sheets, they would have to turn me over. I could not care less whether it was a man or not changing my bedding. It was time when dignity is a dream.
“Nurses would come in and you would see they are afraid to come near your bed. I remember hearing them saying this pregnant one is dying do not waste time on her. For the first time in my life I felt death was lurking all over and around me.
“I felt a grip of fear pressing me down. I still could not breathe on my on. When I struggled to breathe, I would buzz for help and would have to wait for staff to get their protective equipment on before they could attend to me. I was not talking,I was scared I was going to die and I remembered I had not told any of my relatives that I am in hospital.”
“I was fighting for every single breath. I was fighting for mine and my baby’s life. One morning I heard doctors on their rounds saying there is no medication and they were just giving me antibiotics because of my pregnancy they can not give me any medication.”
Rutendo posed as tears trickled down. She then continued her narration with a cracking voice.
“I saw nurses and doctors rushing to my bed. I heard them saying do not save it. I felt dizzy and fell into a very deep sleep. I woke up I am not sure whether it was after a day or after an hour what I know is I woke up.
“My tummy felt so light. I felt very different. A doctor came to me and said. Madam. I am sorry to tell you this. We could not save your baby. I closed my eyes and wanted to die. I did not want to live any more. I felt so weak.”
She said: “All the time I spent in hospital, not even one of my friends came to see me. I felt so lonely. I wondered where God was when my baby escaped my womb. I was fighting more for my baby, but I lost her. I was told my baby could not be saved because I was not allowed in the maternity ward. The wing I was admitted was a Covid-19 wing.
“I just wanted a hug. Or just a human touch, but I had coronavirus so I was forbidden fruit. For the first time in my life I felt that I needed somebody near. I realised there is a time you need a human touch, you need some one to say to you it will be well. Hope is the seed of a dream which becomes real.
“On the 10th day in hospital I was transferred to a normal ward. I started to learn how to breathe. I felt like a newly-born baby. I then realised I came with a child in my womb, but coronavirus tortured me and made off with my baby, my future.”
Rutendo said she would never forget the feeling of crisp, cold air on her face the day she left hospital.
“I was driven home with a face mask on and the windows open. The breeze felt amazing. I suddenly appreciated the smallest of things.”
She is now self-isolating at home, and is getting stronger, but still has a dry cough, which could last months.
She believes she could have contracted the virus at the hospital where she works, but she may never know for sure. She may also never know how she lost her baby.
Maria Muponda from Sheffield knew she would be vulnerable if she contracted Covid-19. She has a chronic kidney disease and five years ago had a kidney removed. When the 26-year-old started coughing and felt increasingly breathless she started to worry. Within days, she was struggling to walk. She was hospitalised.
“I felt a lot of pain in my ribs, back and abdomen,” explained Maria.
“I felt like I had been beaten up. I was sitting on the couch and I felt like I was choking. I had to hit the table to draw the attention of my husband Herbert, who drove me to A&E. We were quickly separated because of safety restrictions. I was scared to be alone.
“I just wanted someone to help me. I was given a green mask and taken to a unit which seemed to be used for Covid-19 patients. Social distancing was in place so we had bays separated by walls with a bed in each bay. I was not tested for Covid-19.
“My doctor said they could not swab everyone, but it was safe to assume I had it. He said the pain I was experiencing was the inflammation from my lungs and that I should keep self-isolating and taking painkillers”
Her husband waited for her in the car park, unsure what was happening. He is a health worker and Maria thought he may be asymptomatic and accidentally gave her the virus.
“I was admitted and wheeled straight away to the ICU ward. I could not talk. I saw a nurse scrolling my phone. I knew she wanted to inform my husband. Unfortunately I saved my husband as Chipondamoyo so there was no way the English nurse could have guessed.
“I saw her putting the phone by my bed side she looked dejected. I kept looking at her and I do not remember how I fell asleep. I could not remember how many days I was in the hospital. The doctors came and informed me that I will be discharged. I knew I was not well, but there were some very sick people who wanted my bed.”
Five days after leaving hospital, Maria still struggles to walk and sleeps up to 18 hours a day. She sometimes has coughing fits, but can breathe more easily.
“There has been a lot of information that this virus does not affect young people my age, but it definitely does. I was within a whisper of a very dark place”
Ngoni Madzikanda said when the virus struck, he could feel it attacking his lungs, making it difficult to breathe.
He is certain he contracted coronavirus at one of his choir meetings a few weeks ago.
“We were all social distancing when we met on the Thursday, but by Sabbath a high number of people had come down with flu-like symptoms,” he said.
Over the following 10 days, the 35-year-old’s health declined.
“Soon I didn’t have the ability to exercise or move at all. The virus was attacking my lungs and I was losing the capacity to fight back.
“My family called the emergency number and I was taken to hospital. It was like something out of a movie. I was wheeled into the ‘red zone’ and there were loads of tests being carried out and swabs being taken. They thought I had coronavirus so they upped my oxygen.
“There were a couple of hours where I was within a whisker away from death and I thought maybe my time is up, but I wanted to live. I could feel the battle in my lungs and it required all my energy reserves to get through it. The extra oxygen gave my lungs a break and gave me the added energy to push out the disease.
“The National Health Service (NHS) staff were incredible, but all they can do is help you fight the virus. There’s no vaccination or magical potion that can save you. It is about your own resilience and God,” he said.
Ngoni left hospital last Saturday and is now self-isolating at home. He has been drinking a lot of water to help lungs and throat recover.
“The church choir has performed a special song for me via Zoom. The song is about looking after me and holding me. It is stunning. I am a long way off to getting my singing voice back.
“All I can do right now is croak. The virus is deadly and I still do not know how I survived. It gives me hope and strength to face tomorrow. The lesson I have learnt is that we need to take the virus seriously. I am self-quarantining. I owe my survival to God the Almighty,” he said.
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