After a long fight against coronavirus, a local man has finally turned the proverbial corner and is sharing the story of his struggle with the deadly disease.
John Alfonzo, who has been coping with coronavirus symptoms for more than two weeks, says he has a “lot more energy” on Tuesday than he has in previous days.
“I told myself ‘you know what John. You are a strong person,’” he said. “I’m stubborn enough that this was not going to take me down. I have so many things yet to do.
Just a day and a half after Alfonzo spoke to NBC 5, he was admitted to Mount Sinai Hospital with increasingly severe coronavirus symptoms.
“When my breathing got worse, that’s when I decided to go to the ER,” he said. “I thought about when the next time would be that I would see my kids, and what will we do when I’m done with this.”
Alfonzo continued reading to pass the time, and wore a bracelet to alert medical staff if he walked out of his room.
He also sent photos of himself to his wife and children, letting them know that he was beginning to feel better.
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“They wrote notes to me every day,” he said. “My daughter who’s three said ‘papa, I miss you. You were at the ER.’ She didn’t really understand the magnitude of it. They just missed me being home.”
After days of blood tests and other work-ups, Alfonzo is finally home from the hospital, and he says there is one thing that he missed the most.
“The one thing I’ve been deprived of is physical contact,” he said. “So I’m giving them as many hugs as possible to make sure I’m there and they can see and touch me.”
He also shared his advice for those who have loved ones who contract the virus.
“It takes an incredible amount of energy to send a text when you’re sick,” he said. “Just let people know you’re thinking about them.”
Alfonzo is continuing to recover at home, and hopes that by sharing his story he can both illustrate the seriousness of the illness, while providing hope that the disease can be beaten.
