Dr. Syed Jafari spent several years immersed in the science around COVID-19. He’s been aware of the intricacies of the virus for decades. In 1991, Jafari, a veterinarian, travelled to China to do his PhD thesis on coronavirus in chickens. In 2020, he contracted the virus.
“This is really ironic and this really changes the whole picture,” Jafari said.
He survived, after spending months in hospital clinging to life. He said doctors gave him a five per cent chance of survival.
“For 34 days I was on a ventilator, struggling for life.”
“I was just gasping for life and oh my god, everybody was praying for me,” he recalled.
His nurse came to his bedside following his recovery to share the staff’s perspective.
“She took hold of my hand and said: ‘We tried our level best to save your life. There were moments when we all lost hope that you would survive’. But it was a miracle,” Jafari said.
He suffered severe damage to his lungs and is still on oxygen 24 hours a day. But now recovering at home, he’s come to realize a renewed purpose. He wants to help others by giving them hope.
“I try to console them and give information to families so they can have inspiration and motivation,” Jafari said.
One of the people he’s connected with is Aftab Rizvi. The 71-year-old was diagnosed with COVID-19 in December. He was on life support for close to two months.
Aftab’s wife, Shaista, heard about Jafari’s remarkable recovery and reached out.
“We cannot express what our family went through,” Shaista said. “It was such a scary time.”
“He gave us words of hope when we were going through the toughest time of our life.”
Jia Wertz, Aftab and Shaista’s daughter, is grateful for Jafari.
“We were looking at statistics around what are his chances and we didn’t think he was going to make it,” Wertz said. “But after talking to Dr. Jafari, he completely changed my outlook.”
Wertz’s brother, Sarosh Rizvi, said they were longing for some positivity.
“Once my dad woke up and his personality came back and he had more life, we could hold onto that,” Sarosh said.
Aftab is hopeful for a full recovery.
“My family is first. I feel very great, I am back.”