When you think of the average critical COVID-19 patient, someone like Ben King may not come to mind. King is a 39-year old former professional athlete, healthy, with no pre-existing conditions. But after returning from a family cruise in early March, Ben King began to experience many of the symptoms of the coronavirus. Watch video below >>>
In a video shared with 95.5 WSB, King and his wife, nurse Kristen, shared his experience. “My husband woke up and was running a 102.9 temperature, he was coughing his head off. He was really, really sick,” Kristen explained. “We work out, we run. We’re in pretty good shape. . . We just assumed Ben caught the flu.” Kristen provided home care for Ben at first, consulting his doctor over the phone. But when he lost his sense of taste and smell, Ben and Kristen visited the emergency room.
“They said because he was not requiring any oxygen support, they sent him back home to recuperate,” Kristen said. The next day, Ben began vomiting and experienced difficulty breathing. The couple took a second trip to the ER, a decision which may have saved Ben’s life. “Fifteen hours earlier when he was in the ER, he had a small patch of left-lobe pneumonia. When he was back in for his second little stint in the ER, it had already spread to almost his entire left lung.”
King was kept in the hospital for five days while doctors treated him with a number of drugs, including hydroxychloroquine and Z-Pak. His fever held around 104 degrees for the first two days. “I literally thought I might die,” Ben recalled. “I have two kids, I have a twelve-year old daughter and a five-year old daughter. I was like, ‘Please, God, don’t let me die this way.’” After those two days, Ben’s condition improved. By day five, he was sent home under Kristen’s care.
Now, weeks later, Ben is feeling much better, though he still deals with shortness of breath and some liver trouble. This week, the former pro athlete began running again. But perhaps the hardest part was the separation from family. “We went a month without seeing our daughters, which was terrible. So we have them home, and that’s good, and life is definitely good.”
Despite the painful ordeal, Ben and Kristen have used the experience to put some good back into the community. “We’re doing testing right now, I’m actually working with a doctor to help test manufacturers for the antibodies test.” Ben has also been raising money for COVID-19 relief, with some help from his daughter. “We’ve been building volleyball boards together . . . we decided to build those for charity. In one week we built twenty-five volleyball boards, and made over $1,000 for a COVID fund at our church.” That church is Texas-based Gateway Church.
Their advice for Georgians? “We have to be smart about this,” Ben says. “You have to look out for yourself, your family and your community.” Kristen adds, “When they’re asking us to wear masks, wear a mask. Take the antibody test if it’s available to you to see if you have those antibodies, so you’re safe to go out into the community.” Lastly, Ben calls for a dose of understanding. “We all have different views on this, and we have to respect each other. And we gotta love each other.”
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Thanks to Ben and Kristen King for sharing their story with us via video.