A COVID-19 survivor who beat the disease at the age of 90 has made a rapid recovery and is now back singing in the choir at his care home.
Donald Morris was rushed to hospital in March where he tested positive for the virus, and staff at the Grange care home in Wickford feared the worst.
However, he overcame the odds and has now recovered enough to return to his care home where he has started singing in the choir again.
He said: “I feel very good now.
“When I first came back, I still did not want to do anything but staff in the home helped me get up and encouraged me to take part in activities, and slowly I regained my strength.”
Mr Morris says he now feels like “a different person” - at one point the virus made him so confused he thought he had been drugged.
He said: “It is a long battle and I’m still not back to how I was before.
“The staff have been very good to me and have made me carry on.
“Everyone has made me battle to continue when, at times, I never thought I would as I am a 90-year-old man.
“I have come out of this a different person.
“I have always helped people that couldn’t remember things, but now I can now understand how people with dementia feel.
“I was very scared at times and confused, half the time I didn’t know where I was.
“At one point I thought I was being drugged as everything was so fuzzy.”
Mr Morris was helped by a woman in Brentwood Hospital who allowed him to use her phone so he could call his daughter.
Mr Morris said initially he didn’t know what was wrong, just that he felt really unwell.
He added: “Everything after that was a bit of a blur.
“I remember going to lots of different wards whilst I was in hospital, but no one really explained what was happening.
“All I remember was feeling so confused, I kept having needles in me and different tests.
“When I was first told that I had Covid-19, I was so glad, in a way, to finally know what was wrong.
“The worse thing about it all was not seeing my family and not knowing what was happening.
“No-one mentioned the word ‘virus’.”
Now back at the home in Southend Road, he is part of the “buddy” system, where he sits with new residents.
He said: “Kerry, our manager, came up with the idea of a ‘buddy’ to help people settle in, when in their first days at the home, and so she asked me, and I agreed.
“My advice for anyone that is battling Covid-19 is to accept that you have it, don’t give up and carry on.”
Read more stories of our Covid-19 survivors:
- Meet the 'walking miracle' who came out of a 10-day coma to beat coronavirus
- 'It invaded my lungs... but I'm so lucky our NHS was there'
- Coronavirus survivor and nurse Felix Khor leaves hospital
- Dad clapped out of Basildon intensive care for beating Covid-19
- 'I thought I was going to die from virus but angel nurse watched over me as I fought’
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