‘I’ve been shot at but this is like nothing else’: Former RCMP officer with COVID-19 speaks out

A former senior commander with the RCMP is coming forward to talk about his experience battling COVID-19.

Al Macintyre served with the RCMP for 39 years and held the position of Assistant Commissioner of the Surrey RCMP.

He contracted an extreme case of COVID-19 just before the end of March.

“They brought me into VCH ICU and treated me like a king ever since then,” he told Global News Monday morning from his hospital bed.

Macintyre said it started as a sore throat and a runny nose and the on April 1 “it just turned into something horrible.”

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He ended up being intubated, being fed through a tube but two days ago was removed from the ventilator.

“I was hallucinating and I saw my dead dad,” he said. “I saw it all man.”

“I never thought I’d breathe again, I never thought I’d see my wife again, it was just a horrible, horrible thing.”

Macintyre said while he was on the ventilator, he remembers some activity around him but he was kept quite sedated.

“I’ve been shot at a few times by the bad guys, I’ve laid in a ditch and tried to save a young girl’s life. I’ve been peed on, I’ve been crapped on,” he said.

“But you’re never ready for this. This is like nothing else. Nothing.”

Macintyre can now eat without a feeding tube and he no longer has to have a catheter inserted.

“Every day is a step,” he said. “And I’ll tell you, we’ve got to listen to the professionals. To Bonnie Henry Dix, to Adrian Dix. We’ve got to listen to them.”

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After multiple videos were shared this past weekend of large crowds of people gathering at Kits Beach, many of them not socially distancing and not wearing masks, Macintyre said people cannot be too careful about spreading COVID-19.

He said he does not know how he contracted COVID-19 but he said we all need to do everything that is asked of us to avoid spreading and catching this virus.