Abbotsford mom shares details of battle with COVID-19 from hospital

A single mother of two says she has spent the last two weeks in hospital after contracting COVID-19. She believes she got the virus at a small gathering. Isabelle Raghem speaks to her from her hospital bed.

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ABBOTSFORD (CityNews) — Denise Thompson, 33, would typically be busy getting her two sons ready for school before heading to work. Instead, she has been confined to a hospital bed in Abbotsford for two weeks after being diagnosed with COVID-19.

“I got to my room in isolation, and within 30 minutes they rushed me to ICU. It happened that quick,” she tells CityNews Monday.

“I was on oxygen for two weeks and today’s the first time I’ve been off of it.”

She says her life was turned upside down when she contracted COVID. What started off as a cough, quickly became a high fever, and trouble breathing.

“All of sudden you try to take a breath and you can’t breathe it happens so quick. When I was in ICU they said the first three days were the worst because you’re not breathing by yourself.”

Thompson believes she got the virus from a small birthday gathering in October.

“I invited a handful of people over to celebrate and one of my friends came over, and he did not tell me he was sick. Later I found out his sister had COVID and told him to isolate. Even after that, he didn’t isolate so I had to cut ties,” she says.

Thankfully she says her boys are being cared for and are healthy, but the outcome could have been much worse.

“My youngest son, he was born really early. He has really bad lungs, and the lack of consideration this person had to come to my house. It’s that quick.”

A cautionary tale

Thompson says while she’s afraid sharing her story may lead to judgment, she wanted to share her experience to remind the public there is a person behind each positive case.

“I see all these posts on the internet about it being fake and it’s people I know personally and that’s why I decided to go public. This is real,” she explains.

Thompson says while she’s been on EI since being off work, she’s worried about the long term impact this will have on her family.

“I’ve been off work for three weeks. How am I going to get back to normalcy? I can’t work. I have to recover myself on top of making sure bills are taken care of so that we’re not going to be homeless come Christmas time.”

She says she expects to be released sometime in the next few days, but knows a smooth recovery isn’t certain.

“I could end up back in hospital for sure, and that’s what scares me.”

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