Thread by @McJuggerNuggets

HEALTH UPDATE:

It has officially been one year since I contracted Covid-19 while on set for my movie that I’ve been working on.

I was once a very healthy 31-year old man, but now every day is a struggle for me.

A THREAD... 🧵

I genuinely thought I would be better by now…

I always had a healthy diet, slept great and worked out…yet Covid made me sick for two weeks. I had a 104 degree fever for 4 days. I blacked out and hit my head on the tile floor. It was hell, but I slowly improved.

Then two months later it clapped back with a vengeance and it threw me into the ER for days.

Irregular heartbeat, gastroparesis, near-fainting and I could barely move or speak. The hospital was baffled. Without knowing how to help me, they sent me home with a heart rate monitor and a “best of luck”.

When I returned home I couldn’t move much or eat without feeling faint…Couldn’t digest fat. Dropped 20% of my body weight in a month. It felt like my body was shutting down.

Over the months, I gradually improved. We’re talking about a snail’s pace. I received numerous scans, x-rays, blood tests, surgery, colonoscopy…and so much gas-lighting and bullshit from medical staff and even family/friends.

Nobody fully understood how badly I was suffering…failing to acknowledge the downstream effects from Covid. Nobody could figure it out. Many were thinking that I wasn’t that bad, PARANOID or just ANXIOUS. It was as if I was somehow the crazy one for believing in science.

As the year progressed, I walked a narrow tightrope and am feeling around 70% better. I’m very grateful for this. I don’t know if I’ll ever get back to where I was health-wise pre-covid. Hell, it has taken a year just to get to this point, but I’m just happy to still be alive.

I wanted to do this post to not only let you know that I’m still making progress…but also to use it as a word of caution for those who care to listen…an inconvenient truth…

Covid is still a threat. Point blank. Millions of people died during 2020-2021 from the initial strains…Millions more were left disabled from it. There are so many stories that we’ll never get to hear, warnings from those who can no longer speak because they’ve passed on. All we hear are stories of those that survived - survivorship bias.

Let’s repress all the negative headlines and not heed lessons from the dead, ‘we need to move on and not inconvenience our lives’. The “more mild” strains of omicron and other variants have been circulating since 2022, they’ve been more “manageable” in the acute period but still threatening long-term — an important distinction.

My friend’s mom died in 2022 due to Covid. My neighbor in PA died in 2023 due to Covid (brought home by his kids). Youtuber, Bashurverse, died in 2021 (age 36) due to Covid. I know droves of fans with long covid, endless fatigue and strange heart issues. Friends of mine who barely have enough strength to stand or speak for very long. My Uncle Chris and Grandmom both died due to Covid. My Aunt suffered from a fatal blood clot following illness that I presume to be Covid in 2024.

Family friends suffering from strokes after Covid. Rare cancers suddenly cropping up and killing quickly, even cancers in remission coming back harder due to Covid. A cough or wheeze that lasts several months, one you can’t seem to shake. Cardiac arrest in young, healthy athletes to the point where it should be getting people thinking…

The list goes on and on of bizarre health issues that occur as a result of even a “mild infection”.

Think this is alarmist or hyperbole? A simple 10 minute google search would illuminate many to the damage that Covid can cause, yet many still act like it’s a cold, a thing of the past or a vaccine side-effect. I see so many still exclaim that “masks don’t work” as if that somehow makes logical sense.

Most want to move on from the sick and disabled and pretend like it’s 2019 again. Unfortunately, I and many others can’t do that. That’s not the reality we live in.

6% of adults across the entire globe have long covid now. This is a real statistic…Your risk of long covid increases with each infection. This is all confirmed by top news sources, CDC, WHO, etc. Look it up.

I fear there are those that will read this, brush it aside and end up facing a similar fate to me. I don’t wish what I’ve experienced on my worst enemy.

Hopefully, this helps somebody.

It’s extremely unfortunate that the two places you would expect great care and safety are now the two places easiest to contract Covid: Hospitals & Schools.

Medical staff disregarding masking as if to bury the trauma of 2020 and holding zero regard for our sick or elderly. Meanwhile, kids are subject to endless disease propagation in schools completely ignorant to the risks and bring it home to those that are vulnerable aka all of us.

How many repeat infections will they accrue over their time at school until medical issues arise?

I want to close by saying thank you to all who have supported me through this last year of traumatizing health struggles and those that have masked around me and really lended an ear. Anyone who takes the time to educate themselves on Covid and the dangerous downstream effects have earned my respect.

For those who read this thinking there’s no way…or dismissing aspects of my thread…

We have the world’s knowledge at our fingertips…there’s no excuse for ignorance anymore.

Spend ten minutes researching, empathizing with people and fact-checking sources. If it’s all not enough, it may just require the harder form of education — EXPERIENCE.

Sadly, I wish I could’ve just stuck with the former, but of course my ego…desire to “live a normal life”…and trust in the herd/powers that be led me to some really terrible quality of life.

I kick myself over and over again most days because I already knew all of this. However, I thought because of my youth and great health that I could contend with the virus. False.

I thought that maybe I had plot armor, that after masking for years, I could excuse a few days of being super safe to be looking good on camera for my movie. Am I going to mask throughout my entire film? Of course not, I thought.

And that decision to throw caution to the wind nearly cost me my life…

Hopefully this may encourage someone to take precautionary measures or make some changes or even just open a mind/spark discussion. I thought I was young, healthy and the exception too…until I got tremendously humbled by a virus.

Stay safe, love you all and for all of those struggling: I’m with you. ❤️

It would mean the world if you could RT this thread and spread this message. It may save a life, provide comfort to those struggling and provide more awareness about this topic.

Many don’t feel comfortable sharing like this. If you or any of your loved ones have suffered to any extent from Covid, please share this and feel free to reply with your story. ❤️