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Thursday, March 28, 2024

'Don't give up', French coronavirus survivor tells those still fighting disease

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'Don't give up', French coronavirus survivor tells those still fighting disease
'Don't give up', French coronavirus survivor tells those still fighting disease

On April 5, 61-year-old Mang Phother could sense that his breathing was getting worse and worse.

Two days later he was rushed to a private hospital in Paris' northern suburbs and battling COVID-19 from an intensive care bed.

Just over two weeks later, the hotel worker of Cambodian origin was sitting back on his couch at home next to his wife with one message on Thursday (April 23): Don't give up!"I didn't think I would come out," he told Reuters minutes before being driven home where his recovery will be monitored remotely.

Emotionally and physically drained, Phother is one of dozens of people across France that have left overwhelmed intensive care units in recent days as the country begins to turn the tide after more than 21,000 people have died.At the L'Estree clinic in Stains, some 11 kilometres north of the capital, the hospital staff, who put together an intensive care unit in just 72 hours as the virus exponentially spread through the area in late March, are torn.

Their happiness that Phother has recovered is tempered with a few tears that the man, who in a way became their mascot in the fight against the virus, is leaving.

They hope that this will set some new momentum for an area where official data shows that the mortality rate due to the coronavirus outbreak has been markedly higher than in the more affluent capital on the other side of the ring-road.Back at home, Phother is already thinking about returning to work after defeating the virus, but his message is clear for all those who may yet face the ordeal he experienced.

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