Aaron Desira walked out of Geelong hospital on Monday after spending more than two weeks fighting to survive Covid – including spending eight days in an induced coma, and relearning to walk and perform other basic functions.The Werribee dad of two primary school-aged children, who is building a family home in Lara, first felt symptoms while working in Bendigo on September 22, prompting him to drive home, get tested and isolate.“The next day, September 23, I got my positive test result,” Mr Desira said. “I was booked in to get vaccinated two days later, then I was like ‘F*ck, I’ve got it’.”Cold symptoms soon progressed to hot sweats, a bad headache and a worse and worse struggle to breathe, before he became “incoherent” on September 26 and was rushed to Geelong hospital.“I was there for a night on oxygen and then they made the call they were going to intubate me, put me into an induced come,” he said. “I was then in a coma for eight days.”“They basically said ‘we’re going to shave your beard off and intubate you’, and it all sort of happened very quickly.“I got to make a phone call to my wife and then I was put under straight away. I didn’t really get time for it to sink in, which I guess is kind of a good thing. It just happened all so suddenly.”Mr Desira’s wife Lisa and his children Isaiah, 11, and Harper, 9, also tested positive for Covid-19 during this time, exacerbating the strain back home.“I was pretty confident I was going to make it through. I’m not sure I can say the same for my wife though,” Mr Desira said. “once I was under it actually got too much for her and my father had to take control of all the doctors phone calls and stuff like that.”“I woke up to messages from her. She would send me daily messages while I was under, just updating me on our house being built in Lara. It was kind of her way coping.”After eight days in a coma Mr Desira woke up and was soon moved from ICU to the Covid-19 warn, where he would “relearn to walk, feed myself” following the toll Covid-19 and the coma had wrought on his otherwise healthy body. Walking out of the hospital unassisted became a goal for Mr Desira, one which he achieved on Monday, 15 days after being rushed to the building.Now Mr Desira wants to use his story to encourage others to get vaccinated as soon as possible.“I was a bit of a [vaccine] nonbeliever,” he said. “I wasn’t a full blown anti-vaxxer. I was just hesitant to sort of get it, to be honest.”“When Dan Andrews made it that construction workers had to have it, I conceded with myself that to continue to work I needed to have it.“Now I would urge everyone to go out and get vaccinated.“It effects everyone differently, so don’t think because you’re young and fit you’re gonna pull through … Two of my colleagues were infected at the same time, one was unvaccinated and he just got flu like symptoms, the other was vaccinated and got severe flu-like symptoms, and then me, who was basically knocking on deaths door.”Mr Desira also wanted to thank Barwon health for their incredible work with him, and all the other Covid-19 patients they have helped during the pandemic.“They were absolutely amazing, the doctors, the nursing staff. They’re doing long shifts and some of the stuff and tasks they have to deal with … it’s a big job and they’re doing it really, really well,” he said.Stay Informed Geelong Advertiser
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