Bill Phillips: “I have gained a new outlook on life”
.… "Now he's in a wheel chair. He can't walk. He can't exercise. He's on oxygen."
Since Bill Phillips had contracted Covid in January of 2020, he did not feel that he needed to be inoculated after the vaccines came out late last year.
After all, despite being 56-years-of-age, he could bench press 300 pounds and run for hours. He was in great physical condition.
Tomorrow, he will leave St. Anthony’s Hospital in Lakewood, Colorado, after spending more than a month in their Intensive Care Unit. He has lost 70 pounds and now cannot walk. It is a heartbreaking situation.
Phillips believed that he did not need the Covid vaccine because he had the virus already and had developed antibodies for it.
He now realizes that was a terrible mistake.
Caught the virus again in June
This is a sad case of a person who was in superb physical condition and then struggled to survive. And, it is an interesting commentary for those who refuse to take the vaccine,
He was once a fitness coach and the epitome of strength – now after two months in the hospital, Bill Phillips is a changed man.
The 56-year-old didn't think he needed the COVID-19 vaccine and that decision almost killed him.
Phillips said he caught the virus the first time in January 2020. A test found he had antibodies so he decided to not get vaccinated. He caught COVID-19 again in June 2021.
At first, he and his wife, Maria Phillips, thought he had a sinus infection. Then he developed a terrible cough. He got so sick that he went to the emergency room at St. Anthony Hospital in Lakewood.
"If we had waited even an hour longer. Bill might have just taken a nap and not woken up," said Maria Phillips, his wife.
Kelly Reinke, “Colorado fitness coach regrets not getting COVID-19 vaccine after
2-month hospital stay,” NBC 9News, August 24, 2021
Said he learned his lesson
As he prepares to leave the hospital after about 60 days, he has a changed perspective on everything,
Bill will be discharged from the hospital 70 pounds lighter.
"It didn't help that I could bench press 300 pounds or run a mile straight up a hill," he said. "I've been in a lot of pain and I have lost a lot, but I have gained a new outlook on life that is for sure."
If he had a chance to do it again, he would do it differently. The Phillips are using their experience to encourage others to get the vaccine.
"That mistake came that close to costing me my life," he said.
The stay at the hospital was not only painful for Phillips, but also his wife. She explained how difficult it was to see her once strong husband suffering for so long.
"If Bill knew everything, the trauma, the pain, that I was going to have to go through every day for the last two months, I think he would have gotten vaccinated if he had known how much pain it was going to cause," she said.
Maria Phillips said she also got COVID-19 in November 2020 and recovered at home. Because she had it once, she believed she was immune.
She decided to get vaccinated when her husband was in the ICU.
Phillips plans to get the COVID-19 vaccine on his birthday in September.
Kelly Reinke, NBC 9News, August 24, 2021
The reality is that for those who fail to take the vaccine, they may pay the same price as Bill Phillips. I am in good shape for 74, but I still feared the virus and tried to isolate until I had both doses of the Phizer.
Some do not understand this, and the sad part is that I see so many stories of people passing away after publicly condemning the vaccines.
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