Luke Bowyer, a freshman at Stevens, started showing symptoms of COVID-19 on March 29. He was willing to share his personal story about the effects it has had on his life.
Q: “Do you mind explaining your experience leading up to you contracting the virus, after leaving Stevens?”
A: “Once I had left Stevens, I had some extra time on my hands to start working. With the increased demand for medical workers, I started working as an Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). I had to work 12 hour shifts on the weekends and didn’t have any free time between work and school. I had to respond to calls from nursing homes where people were showing symptoms and needed to be taken to the hospital. In the beginning, the Emergency Medical Services agency I work for wasn’t prepared for the uptake in patients. As a result, I had to use N95 masks that weren’t fitted properly. Also, we didn’t have access to the suits that we were supposed to wear. That’s how I believe I contracted it. Later on, we got the disposable suits to wear for COVID-19 patients and our own personal respirators, but by that point, I had already contracted it and just didn’t know it yet.”
Q: “What symptoms have you had to face?”
A: “It started with just feeling tired and progressed to a sore throat and then a fever and a cough. The fever caused constant body aches that made my joints feel brittle. I developed a burning sensation in my nose that made it feel like there was a candle constantly lit underneath my nose and somebody was burning the inside. The fatigue got worse and made it so I was constantly about to fall asleep, but I couldn’t lay in bed because lying down allows fluid to build up in the lungs and causes the pneumonia to set in. I just had to fight the urge to go to bed while my body fought off the virus. My body has since fought it off and I don’t feel sick anymore, but I’ll still get a low grade fever every now and then so I’m still infected but I feel fine enough to go back to working.”
Q: “How long have you had it?”
A: “I first had been exposed on March 22nd and started showing symptoms 7 days later. I’m still showing symptoms now, 3 weeks after my first exposure.”
Q: “Have you had to go through complete separation from everyone? Has anyone been able to help you?”
A: “I started in total isolation but then my parents got sick too so now I can wander around the house. Nobody in my household can leave the house. My brother, who has been living with his girlfriend since I got sick, brings us groceries and leaves it on the porch for us to get so we don’t run out of food.”
Q: “How are your experiences with classes?”
A: “My teachers have been very understanding about it and have been giving me extensions but I fell very far behind on all the material because I was too exhausted to do any work or study, so I have no idea what’s going on in most of them. I’ve been gradually catching up though and I should hopefully be back to normal both physically and academically within the next week.”
Q: “Do you have any advice for people at this time?”
A: “My advice for people is to stay home. You don’t want to get this disease because it sucks and it feels absolutely miserable.”
Bowyer’s battle with COVID-19 is still ongoing, but his condition is improving substantially. This destructive virus has hit many people, even those in our own community. Let’s wish them all a speedy recovery!
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