A Kearny Mesa man who spent 19 days using a ventilator to survive is sharing his fight against COVID-19.
Troy Mealey said it started with a scratchy throat and a light cough. A few days later, he had developed a fever, followed by a loss of taste, smell, and shortness of breath.
Then, on July 19, his wife, Becki Mealey, dropped him off at Sharp Memorial Hospital.
“Dropping him off at the ER at 2:30 in the morning, and you don’t know if you get to see him again, that’s where it got scary for me,” remembered Becki Mealey.
Troy Mealey agreed. He said when Becki Mealey left him, he became more concerned.
“That’s when my fear took over, especially when she left because we do everything together. It’s like my security blanket was leaving me,” Troy Mealey said.
He doesn’t remember much after arriving at the hospital.
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“He went downhill rapidly, to the point where they thought they were going to lose him,” she said.
She said Troy Mealey spent 26 days in the hospital, 19 of them on a ventilator.
“I wasn’t prepared for what I saw. This guy went to sleep at 270 pounds, pure muscle mass,” she said.
Troy Mealey is 56 years old, has no health issues, and is a bodybuilder. He says he lost 50 pounds since last month and the majority of his strength.
“I’m really, really surprised by how weak I am and how tired I get doing the simplest things I used to do every day. It’s going to be a long, long road," he said.
Click here to follow the Mealey’s road to recovery or help them with medical expenses.
