‘Like nothing I have felt before’: B.C. COVID-19 survivor blasts virus deniers in online post

A woman in B.C. is speaking out about her brutal battle with COVID-19.

Haleigh Callison, 36, said she was healthy, active and careful about where she went and who she spent time with when the pandemic started.

However, she contracted the virus on Nov. 10 and has been dealing with the effects ever since.

In a Facebook post on Sunday that’s since been shared more than 500 times, Callison said she was not even able to trace where she contracted it.

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“I was extremely sick for 8 days and very sick for 2 weeks,” she wrote.

“I was throwing up, constantly nauseous, body aches and pains like NOTHING I have ever felt before, diarrhea, headaches, loss of appetite, scary/bad thoughts/dreams, trouble sleeping, slept with ice packs for 2 or 3 nights to try to ease pain and messed up temperature.”

She said she lost 10 pounds in less than 10 days and the fatigue was so crippling, she couldn’t even get up to brush her teeth or heat up soup.

She can now go for walks but gets tired very quickly and has to sit down to regain her strength.

Callison said she decided to share her story after seeing posts on social media from COVID-19 deniers.

“Some people saying 99 per cent of people are fine after, or ‘it only affects old people.’ I’m not super young but I’m not super old either,” she said.

“When you’re posting things saying it’s not real or saying that most people are fine, understand that some people reading that have lost loved ones.”

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She remembered lying on the floor of her bath with the shower on, shaking in pain and feeling like she needed to vomit for the fifth time that day, and thinking that some of her family and friends would not be strong or healthy enough to get through this illness if they had it.

“I guess, I would ask, before you post something (to) take 2 mins to sit and think, if my parent, my best friend, my grandparent was in hospital, not knowing how they will recover/if they will recover — or your partner was laying on the bathroom floor in pain and vomiting, would you still post what you are about to say?” she said.

“Please just take it seriously.”