“Eight days later I woke up, in a different hospital, from a ventilator. I was surrounded by Drs and Nursing staff, clapping and crying, ‘You’re alive! Praise God!’”

“When I caught COVID, I was mad. I was mad at whoever gave it to me. I was really angry. I was hostile. I won’t lie. I was bitter. But maybe the person that gave it to me might not be so lucky. My friend died from COVID and when my friend died, I felt like I couldn't be mad anymore. I have to live.”

“In order to go back to work, I should be able to handle a full shift in PPE, and I can’t do that yet. Right now even when I wear my N95 mask to go to the grocery store, I start coughing after about half an hour of wearing it. I definitely can't wear the PPE for a full eight hours.”

“There was also a fear of being Asian during this pandemic and the fear mongering that spread throughout the country. I heard the stories of the hate crimes going on and some even occurred in Philly. This was something that added on to my daily stresses as I am certain there was plenty of misinformation being spread. I didn’t need to have a target on mine or Ariel’s back.”

“I was technically one of the first 50 cases in the city to be confirmed.”

“If I were to go back to March or even February, if I knew then when I know now, I would take a lot of different precautions. in the beginning, I was one of those people. I said, ‘Oh, people are overreacting. It's never going to get me. It's never going to get my family. The percentages are too low.’ It really gave me a kick in the pants. My girlfriend, brother, and my mother all got it.”

After experiencing COVID-19 for herself, Gail decided to do something more to get the facts out there.

“All you thought was it’s a death sentence and I’m living proof it’s not...There are hundreds of us every day coming home.”

“I'm too functional to be disabled, and I'm too disabled to be functional.”

“Every time I got out of the shower, more clumps kept falling out of my hair. I thought I was going bald.”

“I am 33, but now I feel like I have the lungs of a 75-year-old.”

“There are many other people like me who are living with rare diseases who also had COVID. Yet, there has been no research on COVID affecting people with disabilities and I Imagine there never will be.  While this is upsetting,  it’s the truth, we are always left out.  One day we will turn this invisible community into the invincible community til then let’s respect the virus, wear your mask and be safe for not only yourself but for those around you.” 

“I used to run five to seven miles three days a week, and then a ten to fifteen mile run on the weekends… I felt like I had been hit by a truck… I can’t remember being that sick since I had strep throat in my early twenties.”

“I’ve had the flu twice as an adult and this is not like the flu at all. When you get the flu, you get the symptoms, but then you’re back to normal right away. That didn’t happen to me. I’m still dealing with lingering symptoms.”

“I was breathing in fire. I was burning inside. Blazing, excruciating fiery breaths…The thought of dragons but instead of breathing out flames, the flames roared inside me from the tip of my nose through my lungs.”

“I’m 26. I don’t have any prior autoimmune or respiratory conditions. I work out six times a week and abstain from cigarettes. I thought my role in the current health crisis would be as an ally to the elderly and compromised. Then, I was hospitalized for COVID-19.”

“I was a very healthy 46-year-old man. I don’t smoke. I don’t drink. I’m not overweight. I eat healthily. Suddenly, I couldn’t walk one mile without gasping for breath. I was on an inhaler. I had a high resting heart rate, numbness in my feet, pains in my chest and abdomen. I could only eat oatmeal or toast or I’d get massive acid reflux.”

My whole life I was told I had a mental health disorder and my problems were all in my head. When I found out that it was Narcolepsy and Cataplexy and it could be fixed, it changed my life. I had five good years like that. Then, COVID-19 happened and my whole world changed again.

Ironically, it took a note from her principal for this kindergarten teacher to get a COVID test.

“Until you've gone through it or saw somebody go through it, you have no idea.”