America's covidiots -- Trumpers, anti- vaxxers, hesitants -- are paying the price for their decisions not to get vaccinated against COVID, as one might expect (unless you're a covidiot). Here are three.
Daryl Barker was passionately against a COVID-19 vaccination, and so were his relatives. Then 10 of them got sick and Barker, at just 31, ended up in a Missouri intensive care unit fighting for his life.
It’s a scenario playing out time and again at Lake Regional Hospital in Osage Beach, where 22 people died from the virus in the first 23 days of July. Many other hospitals across Missouri are fighting the same battle, the result of the fast-spreading delta variant invading a state with one of the nation’s lowest vaccination rates, especially in rural areas.
A Mississippi man said he came close to dying after getting COVID-19. Now he’s hoping others will learn from his health journey after going from vaccine skeptic to a vaccine believer.
Bryan Thompson, 43, is married to Audrey. He has a 6-year-old son named Endymion. He works for an IT company from home. He says he’s otherwise a healthy man, but he is unvaccinated against COVID-19.
“I was unvaccinated, yeah, I myself was a little skeptical and I felt it got rushed, I wanted to just make sure it was safe. We were in a low-risk situation. It wasn’t like I was a front-line worker somewhere seeing hundreds of people a day” said Thompson. “So I figured if anyone can take a little bit of a risk it could be us because of our situation.”
That is until he got COVID-19. [snip]
Thompson said he had a fever, which led to pneumonia. He ended up in the hospital.
He said he recovered and was discharged, but once he got home things took a turn.
“During the night, [the] pain increased to a level I have never experienced,” he said. “[The] Worst pain I have ever felt in my life. My foot just... I can’t explain it. Like, screaming-out kind of pain.”
“The whole night he was in excruciating pain, yelling.. just could not get out of pain. I’ve never seen someone be in so much pain,” said his wife Audrey.
Audrey rushed him to the emergency room and that’s when doctors found several blood clots in his leg.
“It eventually got to the point where there was just no hope to save anything,” said Bryan. “I had to have my leg, it’s been amputated from right underneath my knee.”
Two weeks ago, life was great for Jessica DuPreez. She was on vacation in San Diego with her fiancé Michael Freedy, (better known as Big Mike at the M Resort where he worked), and their five kids ages 17, 10, 7, 6 and 17 months.
Shortly after their vacation, Freedy went to the hospital for what he thought was a severe sunburn. He tested positive for COVID-19.
Thursday morning, Freedy died with DuPreez by his side.
“He is only 39. Our babies now don't have a dad. You can't say I am young and it won't affect me because it will,” DuPreez said.
Freedy was not vaccinated for COVID-19.
Freedy was not vaccinated for COVID-19.
“We wanted to wait just one year from the release to see what effects people had, but there was never any intention to not get it,” DuPreez said. That is a decision she said she will always regret and has now gotten the shot along with their oldest child.
Freedy sent her a text message while in the hospital it said, ““I should have gotten the damn vaccine.”
Yes, you all should have gotten the damn vaccine. Instead, you, your loved ones and your community were made to suffer. Was it worth it?
(h/t Raw Story for the leads)
