Femi Ashekun/
Uche Edochie, one of the sons of Nigeria’s veteran actor, Pete Edochie, has narrated his near death COVID-19 experience, during which his lungs were nearly completely damaged.
Uche Edochie shared a lengthy post on his Instagram page where he recounted how he discovered he had the deadly virus and how it eventually took a massive toll on him.
According to the younger Edochie, when he first fell sick, he thought it was malaria. However, by the time he realised it could have been something else, 80% of his lungs were already damaged.
In an Instagram accompanied by a picture of himself in the hospital with his older brother, he wrote:
“Me in recovery at the COVID-19 isolation treatment facility in Gbagada around twelve days ago. My older brother @leoedochie paid me a visit. Best big brother ever. So Covid finally got me and it is quite some story.
“When I fell sick weeks ago, I thought I had malaria. So, I spent the first couple of weeks treating malaria. By the time I realised this could be something else, it was too late. By the time I was rushed to the hospital, 80 per cent of my lungs were damaged. I couldn’t eat or breathe and I was on oxygen for weeks.
“I couldn’t walk either and had severe chest pains. I kept blacking out. It felt like I was dying and waking up over and over again. I have never seen anything like this.
“For the first time in my life, I had no control over anything. I felt like I was on a boat drifting away in the still of the night rudderless. The days that followed passed by slowly and everything was a blur. I just remember laying in the hospital and floating endlessly like a feather in an abyss of nothing.
“The days turned to weeks and my recovery is going well. I am fully cured of covid now and I am able to walk a little. My lungs will take months to heal completely. So, I am still on oxygen and defence medications but I am back home.”
He noted that he spent over six million naira to treat himself as he called on the government to further strengthen the health sector.
“Curing covid costs a fortune too and that is a problem. That is often why people die. The facility where I was treated charges N350,000 a day. I was there for 12 days before being moved to First Cardiology Centre in Ikoyi for my lung and heart rehabilitation.
“The total cost of my treatment so far has exceeded N6m. I know a guy whose covid treatment cost N17m. Governments must invest in affordable treatment or more and more people will die. Affordable treatment is our last line of defence.
“We have tried lockdowns, masks and vaccines and covid is still spreading. Even the vaccinated are still catching covid. And that was my covid experience. My family has been incredibly supportive and so have the healthcare workers that took care of me. In all these people, I saw the face of God. I will never forget,” he said.
Uche Edochie is the second son of the Pete Edochie family. He was born in 1975 and he is married with three children.
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