Extract from ABC News
Melbourne construction worker Nathan Chellia was on the phone to contact tracers when he collapsed at home, just one day after being diagnosed with COVID-19.
Key points:
- Nathan Challia wants protesters to learn from his mistake and get vaccinated
- The Melbourne tradie spent two weeks in intensive care in hospital with COVID-19
- He says people involved in this week's wild protests must stop spreading the virus
"I was pretty much unconscious," Mr Chellia said.
"The Department of Health had to call an ambulance and take me to hospital."
The father of two would go on to spend the next 14 days in intensive care in Melbourne's Northern Hospital, where he could barely eat or drink.
His throat was so closed, even simply sipping water would cause him to choke.
At one point, Mr Chellia was asked by his doctors to contact his loved ones and make final arrangements in case "something happens".
He told them that if he needed to be placed on a ventilator for more than 24 hours, they should let him die.
"I had headaches, vomiting, bleeding from my mouth. I was pretty much half-dead," he said.
"And I realised then that I had made a silly mistake because I hadn't had a vaccine."
A cautionary tale.
Mr Chellia had always intended to get vaccinated but had not felt there was any hurry.
Aged in his late 30s, he felt a false sense of security.
"I thought, 'COVID's not going to get me, it's going to get older people.'"
"I'd never seen any COVID patients … I thought it was just a normal flu."
Grateful to have recovered, he is now urging other Australians to get vaccinated and he wants his experience with coronavirus to act as a cautionary tale.
In particular, the construction worker says he has been frustrated and disappointed by this week's rallies in Melbourne against mandatory vaccinations for the building industry, which have involved many tradies like him.
"Stop the protests – you're spreading the virus everywhere," Mr Chellia said.
"If you get sick, it'll knock you down. Just go home and get vaccinated."
Guilt of passing virus to twin daughters
Mr Chellia worked at the Panorama construction site in Box Hill, which was listed as a tier 1 exposure site not long after his diagnosis and has since been linked to more than 150 positive cases.
He believes he contracted the virus after unthinkingly shaking hands with one of his colleagues, who was refusing to wear a mask.
"He said, 'I'm a superman — I won't get it,'" Mr Chellia said.
"After that, he got the virus, I got the virus, my other colleague got the virus."
But Mr Chellia feels particular guilt for passing coronavirus on to his four-year-old twin daughters.
Both have since made a full recovery.
He said the importance of getting vaccinated was really brought home during his stay in hospital when he saw the quick recovery of three other COVID-positive patients, who had each received at least one vaccine dose.
It is a mistake he does not want anyone else to make.
"If I'd also had an injection, it wouldn't have got to that stage," Mr Chellia said.
"Think of your families. Go and get vaccinated."
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