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A fitness trainer who went viral after photos showed the devastating impact of Covid-19 on his body is now urging people to get vaccinated.
Bill Phillips, 56, of Colorado, first caught Covid in January 2020, with a test showing he had antibodies convincing him he didn’t need the vaccine, according to 9News.
However, the former fitness guru has now revealed that he is keen to get the shot, having caught Covid again in June 2021 and spending the last two months in hospital.
According to Phillip’s wife, Maria, who spoke at the outlet, she and her husband initially thought he had a sinus infection when he fell ill the second time around.
When the 56-year-old’s health deteriorated, Maria rushed him to the emergency room at St Anthony’s Hospital in Lakewood, where he was intubated for 47 days and did not wake up for 18 days, reports 9News.
As Phillips now prepares to be discharged from the hospital, photos shared by 9News reporter Kelly Reinke show the devastation the virus has taken on his body, with the former fitness trainer now in need of oxygen and oxygen. A wheelchair.
In a front photo, Phillips can be seen shirtless and showing off his abdominal muscles, while the photo after sees him sitting in a hospital bed while tied to various wires.
“Bill was so strong and independent and worked and did all of these things,” his wife told the outlet. “Now he’s in a wheelchair. He can’t walk. He can’t exercise. He’s on oxygen.
Phillips also lost 70 pounds during his hospital stay, with the Covid survivor now revealing that neither his strength nor his physical form protected him from the virus, and that he wishes he had done things differently.
“It didn’t help that I could push down on a 300-pound bench or run a mile straight up a hill,” he told the outlet. “I suffered a lot and lost a lot, but I got a new outlook on life for sure.”
He and his wife have since started urging people to get vaccinated, with Phillips explaining that his mistake of not getting the shot “almost cost me my life.”
In a post shared on his Facebook on August 9, showing the fitness expert in his hospital bed, Phillips expressed his joy at being alive while acknowledging the importance of the vaccine.
“After almost 30 days on a ventilator, put in a induced coma and 45 days with just a feeding tube, I’m so confused, excited, overjoyed, ecstatic… I’m so pumped for dinner, I don’t even know what to have, ”Phillips wrote. “It’s one way to lose 70 pounds in two months. I SURVIVED.
“PS, yes, you had better get the Covid vaccine if you have a realistic chance of not losing your life. Damn, of course I’m not kidding, we have to get this virus off the planet. I lost 70 pounds because of this monster and I’m lucky to have the muscle and energy and a fight partner in Maria to survive.
Maria, who said she previously thought the virus meant she was vaccinated, told the outlet that she received the vaccine while her husband was in intensive care, while Phillips said at the point of sale that he planned to get vaccinated on his birthday in September.
The independent contacted Phillips for comment.
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