The world is in a tight spot because of the pandemic. Everyone needs to stay home and away from each other just to stop the spread of the virus, while health workers all over the world have become the new frontline for the people because they are working day in and day out to take care of the sick and infected.

One of them is Mike Schultz, a nurse from Boston who’s been hospitalized for weeks after contracting the deadly virus.

After getting hospitalized for six weeks and intubated for four and a half, Mike’s previously buff and muscular physique dramatically changed. He lost a lot of muscle mass and definitely had undergone changes that were brought by COVID-19.

The nurse contacted the disease after attending a Winter Party Festival in Miami Beach, wherein at least 38 other guests were infected weeks after the event. He attended together with his boyfriend Josh Hebblewaithe, and soon after they arrive, Mike experience symptoms and ended up being hospitalized for labored breathing and high fever.

Mike can be considered as a health buff because he’s fit and conscious about his well-being. He works out every day and weighs about 190 pounds. At the age of 43, anybody would surely categorize him as a healthy person. But, that was before he got infected with the disease.

After six weeks of fighting for his life against the virus, Mike shared a selfie of him and posted it alongside a photo of himself before he got the virus. The difference is undeniably shocking.

“I wanted to show everyone how badly being sedated for 6 weeks on a ventilator or intubated can be,” he wrote. “Amongst other things, covid19 reduced my lung capacity with pneumonia…I’ll get back to where I was in healthier ways this time…maybe even do cardio.”

We don’t know yet the extent that COVID-19 affects the human body but seeing Mike’s dramatic physical changes gives us a fair idea of what a person’s body goes through as the disease ravages the human body. Just looking at Mike’s before and after photos will surely get chills at the amount of stress his body experienced as he held on and fought.

“I was so weak. This was one of the most frustrating parts,” Mike said. “I couldn’t hold my cellphone; it was so heavy. I couldn’t type, because my hands shook so much.”

Mike says he dropped about 50 pounds of weight after only barely two months since the Winter Party he attended.

A man who was once considered physically fit is now doing his best to get back on track and become healthy again. Mike’s transformation is something that people online found truly harrowing as they shared his photos over social media.

Mike’s photos circulated online and made people realize that everything about the coronavirus is definitely real and more. For a man like Mike to experience such a terrible change makes the threat of this disease even more palpable.

The gravity of getting infected with coronavirus used to be something that he thought would never happen to him. But after his harrowing battle against the virus, Mike finally learned that it is never a simple hurdle to overcome.

“I knew what I thought going in [about the coronavirus]. I didn’t think it was as serious as it was until after things started happening. I thought I was young enough for it not to affect me, and I know a lot of people think that,” Mike said. “I wanted to show it can happen to anyone. It doesn’t matter if you’re young or old, have preexisting conditions or not. It can affect you.”

The good news is that Mike finally got discharged from the hospital, though he is quite sure that he still needs months for him to fully recover.

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Source: god.dailydot.com, Buzzfeed, Mike