The 20-year-old student said she experienced congestive heart failure after contracting Covidoma for the second time.
Madeline Neville, of Philadelphia in the U.S., shared a post on Facebook on Dec. 8 in hopes of educating people who “don’t believe in the seriousness of the pandemic”.
Ms Neville said she was quarantined in October after being diagnosed with a “mild case” of coronavirus and returned to her normal life after she recovered.
It wasn’t until she was re-diagnosed with the virus in early December that she experienced “intense chest pain, shortness of breath and a host of other horrible symptoms”.
The student was at Moses Taylor Hospital in Scranton, where she said she was diagnosed with congestive heart failure caused by Covid-19 complications.
“They did a test on my heart and found myocarditis, my heart was functioning at 11 percent and that was enough for them to call it congestive heart failure,” she said in an inquiry for Philadelphia.
After being airlifted to the Pennsylvania Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, Ms. Neville spent nine days there, where she said going to the bathroom and showering was just hard, even struggling to brush her teeth or walk more than 10 steps.
“I still have a long, winding road ahead of me to recover, which quite frankly scares me without a word,” she wrote.
‘I was completely healthy’
Ms Neville said she got angry after reading posts on social media by people who believe the virus is not real, prompting her to share her experience and explain how it can affect young people.
“I was a terrible case that seems so unattainable. Now you can say that you know someone, a young person who had to fight for his life as a result of a virus. I was completely healthy.
“It is quite easy, especially for young people, to take their health for granted. I know I did. I believed that my youth and health would allow me to go through any rush I had with the virus relatively unharmed, ”she explained.
Ms. Neville also targeted those who complain about social restrictions, not allowing them large gatherings or visiting restaurants.
“All our lives have changed during this year, and inconveniences are becoming the new norm. I understand that this is frustrating and that sometimes it seems too much to me.
“However, as someone who finished it, I would like to have chosen inconveniences instead of endangering my health,” she wrote.
‘I wish I had been more careful’
The university student said she was positive for Covid for the first time three days after she was diagnosed with one of her four roommates.
“I wish I had been more careful in my social interactions before contracting COVID, to save myself, my family and my friends the pain of uncertainty about whether this disease will kill me or not.
“This was my reality this week and you can be sure that I just don’t care which restaurants will be open anymore. I am grateful to be alive at home with my family, “she wrote.
Ms. Neville stays with her parents to recover and told a Philadelphia investigator she was feeling better.
“But it’s still hard and for the first time in my life I’m weak … I definitely haven’t returned to normal,” she said.
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