When most people believe in a COVID-19 patient, they can’t believe Vince Li.
The 26-year-old from Burnaby, B.C., is a private teacher and combined martial artist. He suffers from type 2 diabetes, but controls it with nutrition and exercise, and has taken insulin for years.
He said he never suspected the virus would affect him.
In March, he was the youngest patient to be hooked up to a ventilator in the intensive care unit at The Royal Columbian Hospital in New Westminster.
Li still doesn’t know how the virus stuck; however, he went to the emergency room and had an X-ray in March after starting to feel incredibly tired due to the fever of about 40 degrees Celsius.
“That’s when (the doctor) told me that my lungs were full of fluid and that they should put on a ventilator for a few days, which then turned in a few weeks,” Li told Global News.
‘I didn’t have time to think, I just panicked more than I saw the fans, I like it,’ oh, it’s happening. It’s real.'”
Li was unable to speak to his mother and brother before being placed in a medically induced coma. It wasn’t until early April that he woke up.
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“The other young people are in very poor health with this, it is well identified that other young people enter the ICU and, unfortunately, other young people die because of it,” said Dr. Steven Reynolds, an extensive care physician and site manager at Royal Colombino Hospital.
Although Li had diabetes, Reynolds called it “well controlled” and said other people don’t dismiss the case for it.
“Vince is a healthy young man. He’s a guy you meet him on the street, he’s super strong. I wouldn’t say that’s the explanation for why they gave it to him. Anyone can understand it.”
Recovery is not easy for Li.
After waking up, he was unable to speak for days due to a sore throat and lungs caused by the fan.
He’s also had to undergo extensive physiotherapy.
“Practically, I learned to get up the first day or both. You know, being bedridden for a month, I think they call it a weakness acquired in extensive care,” he said.
“It’s a struggle in itself.”
According to Li, walking on the block went from a five-minute workout to a 50-minute task.
He made longer walks and then short 10-minute runs, however, it was about two months before he could return to work, even part-time.
You still can’t do the same exercise you used to do, feel normal tiredness and still suffer from headaches.
Li also had to take medications for her diabetes for the first time in years.
You need others your age to know that the fact that the virus is the most lethal among the elderly doesn’t mean it has no consequences for others.
“I would only say that he is aware of his fate. That prevents him from shopping,” Li said.
“But at the same time … if there’s a house party, I don’t think that’s a good idea to go to.”
It’s a feeling Dr. Reynolds shares.
“When you grow up and it’s summer, you need to pass out and have fun, and it makes a lot of sense.The challenge is to put the threat in context, it’s about not going to those 100-person parties,” he said..
“The challenge is that a user in a confined space can infect tons and tons of people.”