‘It feels like your lungs are filling up with smoke or liquid’ says Cambridgeshire coronavirus patient, 29
“It just feels like your lungs are filling up with smoke or liquid. It’s definitely a struggle to breathe.”
This was the description a normally healthy 29-year-old father from Cambridgeshire gave as he battled Covid-19.
Daryl Doblados, who completed the Cambridge Half Marathon on March 8, urged people to take the coronavirus risk seriously whatever their age.
“I woke up with a high fever, a very sore throat and body aches everywhere,” he said in a video message - below - posted from his bedroom, where he is now self-isolating.
Shortly afterwards, he said, he got the shivers and then “the worst thing, the acute shortness of breath, which I’m still dealing with at the moment”.
After ringing 111, an ambulance took him to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge.
“When I got to A&E, they did all the blood tests, they did an X-ray,” he explained. “They gave some fluids - I was cannulated twice, [had] ABGs done (arterial blood gas) and some more blood collections done as well.
“The diagnosis was a mild case of Covid-19 plus tonsillitis, which was mainly why the sore throat was there.”
He is now back home in Littleport, where his partner will spend the next 14 days in isolation too.
He has been advised not to see his two children “for seven days at least”.
“I have to be wearing a mask if I do see them but it’s going to have to be limited,” he said, before stressing his key message: “Just don’t take this for granted. It’s not really a joke.
“What I was really concerned about was the shortness of breath. I am typically healthy. I do a lot of exercises. I run a lot as well.
“It just feels like your lungs are filling up with smoke or liquid. It’s definitely a struggle to breath. I’ve never experienced anything like this before. It’s completely new.
“I would really feel for those people that contracted the virus and developed a severe or critical case.
“As you’ve seen in the news, it’s absolutely crazy. It’s really the breathing problems that get you. Even for a mild case, it’s quite bad.”
Daryl, who was diagnosed on March 19, concluded: “Stay safe. Keep washing your hands. I’m going to go and wash mine now, because I just touched my face.”
His message came as the Prime Minister urged people to abide by the social distancing guidelines - ideally staying at home, and keeping two metres away from anyone if they do venture out.
Boris Johnson indicated that the country faced a lockdown like that seen in other countries, such as Italy, if people failed to adhere to the rules.
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