"But they’re not dead" - COVID-19 survivor frustrated with remarks
Helen McCarthy was on life support during a three week stay in Raigmore
Last updated 25th Aug 2020
A Caithness woman believes some in the Highlands aren't taking Coronavirus seriously after someone said her and her husband "might have had it, but they’re not dead yet."
Helen McCarthy, from Watten, was diagnosed with COVID-19 back in April and spent 21 days in hospital, some of which on life support.
Although he was never tested, Helen's confident husband Alan also contracted coronavirus after showing similar symptoms of a bad cough.
The NHS carer was dismayed to learn someone tried to downplay the illness when they were told the couple had it.
She's desperate to make people across the region more aware of the virus.
She said: "It has been said in the village that it wasn't up here and when the people they were speaking to informed them 'oh yes it is, there's a couple down the road who have it' the person replied with 'they might have had it, but they’re not dead yet.'
"I do know of people who have had it and know of people up here who have lost their lives to it."
When asked how she felt when she received her diagnosis for the deadly virus Helen responded with “fear.”
She said: “I thought I was going to die. When people say it’s like the flu, it’s nothing like the flu. It’s too hard to describe, but you do feel like you’re dying.
“I suffer from anxiety because, people up here aren’t very aware of it and they don’t believe that it’s actually happening.
“I’d just like to tell them that it is happening, my husband and I were the most unlikely couple to catch it, because we keep ourselves to ourselves."
Despite being told it could take around six months to a year for her to recover, Helen does insist she’s getting better every day and there is “light at the end of the tunnel.”
She said: “I was just hours from death, my body was rejecting all the medications they were giving me.
“I’m just so glad to be alive now, I’m lucky to have pulled through it.”