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Howie Severino: I am Patient 2828

Veteran journalist Howie Severino recounted his battle against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).
Severino wrote an essay published on GMA News Online, confirming that he was patient 2828 and spent nine days in the hospital “a bout of pneumonia and a major scare.”
“I am one of the lucky ones who have been able to go home, resume a semblance of my former life, and live to tell the tale,” he wrote.
He wrote that he was fortunate to be able to return home compared to his fellow COVID-19 patients who were barred to return to their homes due to stigma despite already testing negative for the virus.
“It’s a tale of long painful needles that couldn’t find a vein in my hands, the shwabs down my throat that made me gag, the torture of long sleep deprivation, and the team of doctors who formed a Viber group to discuss updates on my case and the experimental drug chloroquine that worked on patients elsewhere and eventually worked on me,” he recalled.
Severino also shared a few takeaways from his experience as COVID-19 patient from the dealing with the disease to experiences of nurses and the need for transparency to the tips on how to overcome loneliness while under isolation.
He also paid tribute to frontliners whom he referred to as true heroes.
“It will be hard to pay them back, but one can pay it forward,” he wrote revealing that he will donate his antibodies in his blood to help others fight off infection.
“COVID-19 need not be a death sentence. I am living proof. A combination of good fortune, physical fitness and competent medical treatment probably saved my life,” he added.
READ MORE: ‘Get well soon’ messages fill Howie Severino’s IG2020/

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