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“Nothing prepared me to see so much widespread death, pain and suffering, and up so close,” says a former patient of COVID ICU unit in India.
“I’m one of the very lucky ones.
“Many are not as fortunate,” said Ivan Fernandes, La-Croix International managing editor.
Fernandes was talking with CathNews on Saturday.
Reflecting on his 18 days on a ventilator in the COVID ICU in India, he said that for a while he thought he would be ‘past tense’, his exhaustion, and at times almost despair was tempered by the Jesuit training he received all those years ago.
Fernandes is a former Jesuit seminarian.
“Somewhere, somehow among it I managed to find my peace,” he said.
At times it was “very dark.”
Moving on, “Covid is a funny illness,” he said.
“A couple of days before contracting it I’d had the AstraZeneca vaccine.
“I just thought I was having an adverse reaction until things went south very quickly.
“I never had any pain, not even a slight headache.
“I just couldn’t breathe.
“It’s as if my lungs were made of paper and I couldn’t hold the air”.
He says he is very grateful for the oxygen, “it kept me alive until the meds kicked in.”
Fernandes is also full of praise for the doctors and nurses who looked after him in the COVID ICU, saying they were a real bright spot in the chaos.
“Their love, compassion, dedication, professionalism and service in a totally overstretched and under-resourced hospital system…they are saints.”
“I’m just so lucky to get a hospital bed and to come out of the hospital on the right side.
Now recuperating at home, Fernandes attention is drawn to his nephew and wife, both school teachers in Bangalore “who have it in a bad way.”
“They have a two-year-old daughter. All I can do is pray,” he told CathNews.
People around the world are doing what they can for us Fernandes says, who remains so grateful.
Still on heavy medication and far from being at full strength, Fernandes keeps up with some of the news. He says he is buoyed by the solidarity, closeness and prayerful support extended by Pope Francis.
“I am writing to convey my heartfelt solidarity and spiritual closeness to all the Indian people, together with the assurance of my prayers that God will grant healing and consolation to everyone affected by this grave pandemic,” Francis wrote on 6 May to Cardinal Oswald Gracias of Mumbai and president of India’s Catholic Bishops’ Conference.
“I think too of the many doctors, nurses, hospital workers, ambulance drivers and those working tirelessly to respond to the immediate needs of their brothers and sisters.
“With deep appreciation, I invoke upon all of them God’s gifts of perseverance, strength and peace.”
On Saturday, Francis called for the “temporary suspension of intellectual property rights” for COVID-19 vaccines.
He made the call in a video message to the “Vax Live” concert co-chaired by Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
“I beg you not to forget the most vulnerable,” he said.
On 5th May more than 412,000 new cases and 3,980 deaths were registered in India in just 24 hours; however, health experts estimate the actual numbers are much higher due to unrecorded deaths and infections.
The World Health Organization said India has accounted for 46 per cent of global cases and 25 percent of global deaths reported in the past week.
Sources
- Supplied
- Catholic Universe
- CNA
- Image: BBC
