OPINION | This article contains commentary that reflects the author's opinion.
Fox News recently reported on Tony Boselli, an NFL star played in five Pro Bowls, that was hospitalized for five after testing positive for COVID-19.
During his hospitalization, Boselli said that the virus forced him to have the conversation with himself where he had to decide that he did not “want to die” in that hospital.
Boselli reported that he had lost 20 pounds over a two week battle with the illness, and although he still felt ill when being discharged, he had tested negative for the coronavirus and would be able to recover at home.
He was admitted to the intensive care unit of the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, where they struggled to reestablish Boselli’s ability to breath.
Fox News continued with Boselli’s description of the experience.
“It was kind of fuzzy, but I remember [the pulmonologist] saying, ‘If we don’t get your oxygen stabilized we’re going to have to go to the next level,” Boselli said. “I remember laying there thinking, ‘What do you mean, if this doesn’t work?’ He says, ‘We don’t know what direction this is going to go.'”
Boselli, 47, added the only people who could see him were health care workers dressed in full protective equipment.
“I don’t know if I ever was like I thought I was going to die, but I remember having the conversation with myself: I don’t want to die here,” Boselli said.
The five-time Pro Bowler said he had minor symptoms on March 16 — after playing golf the previous weekend — but didn’t think much of it because he didn’t have a fever.
On March 18, his symptoms worsened to a cold and the same day he got a call that he had been around someone who tested positive. Boselli consulted his doctor and got tested before the results concluded he had the virus two days later, ESPN reported.
Boselli said his condition significantly worsened over the next four days, while adding that he was 47-years-old and “completely healthy.”
“I thought I was getting better, then I woke up one day and I was going downhill fast,” Boselli said, according to Jaguars.com. “That’s when I was like, ‘Holy cow … this is real.’ When I went to the hospital, I thought I was going to get some fluids and some meds. They took an X-Ray and said, ‘You’re not leaving. You’re going to ICU.’ I’m like, ‘What?’ You realize that this stuff gets out of control pretty quick.”
Boselli expressed an immense amount of gratitude towards the medical staff for helping him with this “real” threat and added that “this is not a political” an gave overall encouragement to cross partisan aisles and listen to the medical experts.
The three-time All Pro athlete discussed the humility it provides him that a virus could knock a healthy guy “on his butt”, and it saddens him to think about what the virus could do to a more vulnerable person with underlying issues.
