A 40-year-old cyclist in fantastic shape is currently fighting for his life in a UK hospital as his wife urges the young to ‘understand you are not invincible’ from the deadly Coronavirus.
IT specialist, Daniel Schuchman from London, a father of four children, was struck by COVID19 and was hospitalized a few days ago.
He is currently having issues with speaking, walking, and is in need of constant oxygen supply.
His wife, Anna Schuchman, 38, said:
‘There is a face and name behind every one of these statistics. Don’t think it will not happen to you. Being fit and healthy and young is not a get-out clause.’
Anna, a nutritionist and personal trainer, noted that Daniel cycled 30 miles each Sunday and had no underlying health conditions.
‘He came down with a fever on Sunday night and we could hear him coughing all the way from downstairs,’ Anna said.
‘By Tuesday, my big, tall, strapping husband was a shadow of himself. He was crumpled in his chair and he couldn’t lift his chin up.
‘The following day we rushed him to hospital and we haven’t seen him since.’
Anna wanted to issue a stern warning to people who may not be taking the issue seriously enough.
‘Whether you are young or old, healthy or overweight, take this seriously,’ she said.
‘You’re infectious before you get hit. It’s invisible. You can’t see where you’re leaving your germs and you can infect lots of other people. I just want everyone to stay indoors.’
Anna made the decision to bring her husband to the hospital after he started breathing heavily. At that point, she was unsure as to what was going on.
His fever did not bulge, even though he took over the counter medicine. Later, he also lost his ability to walk.
‘It took me 20 minutes to get him to the toilet and I couldn’t get him out,’ she said. ‘I started panicking. That’s when I knew it was an emergency.’
Daniel is currently in Harrow’s Norcwick Park hospital, which declared a ‘critical incident’ after it was overwhelmed by coronavirus patients.
The last time his wife saw him was when medical staff transferred him to the emergency section in a wheelchair. He has now been there for a week.
‘He wasn’t strong enough to use his phone at first so we had to call the ward for updates,’ Daniel’s wife said. ‘The doctors and nurses were rushed off their feet and you could hear the panic in their voices, but they didn’t scrimp on the time or information they gave us.
‘They were absolutely amazing. Hats off to them.’
Following a four-day intensive care period, Daniel was finally able to communicate with his wife through Facetime.
He could not talk but was able to nod and shake his head when asked questions.
By the fifth day, Daniel could finally say some words.
‘He doesn’t have the energy to say more than one short sentence at a time,’ his wife said. ‘Speaking takes an awful lot of strength.’
‘There is no treatment for Coronavirus, so all the doctors can do is take as much strain off the body as possible so it can fight the virus itself.
‘Yesterday he had a positive morning and they tried to get him into a chair to allow oxygen to circulate into his lungs.
‘Then everything plummeted and he was back to square one.’
According to doctors, Daniel’s condition will remain stable for some days before he starts to get better.
Anna is currently in self-isolation at home with their four kids, as she reported experiencing mild symptoms of the virus herself.
‘I’m pretty sure we’ve all had it here,’ she said. ‘The main thing is that we’ve lost our sense of taste. That has recently been recognised as a symptom.
‘I’ve had headaches, ringing in the ears and a tight chest. I got so out of breath teaching a workout class last week.’
Anna noted how difficult it has been for her as a single parent, and she added:
I’ve had some awful thoughts over the past week, but Dani is more stable now. It’s going to be a long journey.’
Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Schuchman family!
To find out what you should watch out for in terms of coronavirus symptoms, please see the video below.
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