'This virus completely floored me': Former MP tells of his battle with Covid
Former Mid Wales MP Lembit Opik has given a stern warning to anyone who thinks they are fit enough to brush aside Covid-19.
The 55-year-old, who became a father for the second time last weekend, has spend more than a month fighting the virus.
It also hospitalised his girlfriend’s mother, who was critically ill in intensive care.
And, while the former MP did not go to hospital, he says he is still not over Covid which he contracted at the end of October.
His girlfriend Sabina Vankova, had the couple’s second daughter, Maria, by caesarian section last Saturday.
“With her mother in hospital and myself so ill I was seriously worried about how Sabina would get to hospital if she went into labour,” he said.
She and their elder daughter, Angelina, both tested positive for the virus. But Mr Opik said the three-year-old had had no symptoms at all.
“I am 55, I swim every day and my BMI is absolutely fine,” he said.
“But this virus completely floored me. I felt worse and worse until I just couldn’t get out of bed. I watched the sun rise from a window on one side of the room and watched it go down on the other. I had no energy or interest in anything.
Conscience
“If I sat up for 10 minutes I had to lie down for an hour and walking for more than two metres was a real challenge.
“I was total exhausted and unable to function.
“You must take this virus incredibly seriously. I didn’t take any chances and always wore a mask. And when I thought I might have symptoms I quarantined immediately. I didn’t want to have another person’s death on my conscience.
“Anyone who thinks it is cool not to wear one or treat it as a joke has had no experience of the virus – or has a death wish or a death wish for others.”
He says he will forever be indebted to the National Health Service having saved the life of his partner’s mother and of their baby, who had breathing difficulties when she was born. Mr Opik himself spent many weeks in the Robert Jones and Agnes Hunt Orthopaedic Hospital in Shropshire after breaking his back in a hang-gliding accident. “The NHS is really great, but not needing it is even better.”
However he said the year ended up with a silver lining due to the arrival of his new daughter. “The worst year has become one of the best years,” he said.
