Westmeath man tells of his struggle with Covid-19

(Above) Martin Rattigan, who contracted Covid-19 three months ago, pictured at home in Moate.

A local man who contracted Covid-19 in October said he thinks people who are hesitant about getting vaccinated for the virus would have a different opinion if they knew how severe and debilitating it can be.

Martin Rattigan, a 60-year-old resident of Mount Carmel Drive in Moate, became so sick with Covid that he feared he might not survive it.

"There were nights when I went to bed and said a prayer that I'd wake up in the morning," he said.

"I was worried, and I was seeing the numbers of people dying every day. It's frightening in that way. It's not like anything else you might get, because it affects your body in so many different ways.

"Some people are saying they won't get the vaccine, but if they got the virus I think they'd have a different opinion. They're all saying, what about side-effects, but no matter what medication you're taking there's always some kind of side-effects.

"But at least the vaccine will keep you alive, and give you a chance."

Three months on from contracting Covid, Martin said he's still feeling the after-effects and continues to be a lot more tired than he was previously.

The Moate native is well-known in the local community and is a retired former member of the Defence Forces in Athlone. His wife is a frontline worker who contracted the virus in October, and he then became infected.

Martin said his first indication that something was amiss was when he lost his sense of taste and smell.

"I knew there was something wrong because I couldn't smell my food or taste it, and then I had a cough. I was coughing every ten or fifteen minutes, and I don't smoke, so I knew it wasn't that."

He became extremely tired and was taking six paracetamol a day to try to keep his temperature down. He also felt strong pain, particularly late at night and in the morning, in his legs, back, shoulders, and kidneys.

"You wake up in the morning and feel like somebody had given you a hiding. You'd be sore everywhere," he said.

"You have no energy. You don't eat food, because you can't taste it. It's like eating paper. At night time, you're turning and twisting, and you're in a ball of sweat.

"Whatever goes through your head, you have some very strange dreams with it, things you wouldn't dream normally. One day I had a dream that I was dead. And, when I woke up, I was delighted to wake up."

Martin explained that he has some underlying health conditions, which increased the level of concern about what might happen when he had the virus.

There were times he was close to requiring hospital admission, but he was keen to avoid that if at all possible.

"I would have been afraid of going into the hospital, and I wanted to fight that as much as I could," he said.

"When you go into a (Covid) ward, the virus is alive in the ward with the other people there. When you're at home, no matter how bad you are, you want to stay at home if you can."

In his case, the worst effects of the virus were felt in the first 14 to 15 days. "Some people get it harder than others, but when the cough goes that's a good sign," he said.

However, he expects it will take another few months before he starts to feel the way he did before getting the virus.

"I find my (lack of) energy is the main thing. Now, when I'm walking, I think that I'm walking fast but I'm not. It's like I'm in slow motion."

When asked if his smell and taste had returned, he replied: "It has come back, but I find that my taste is not as strong as it used to be.

"They told me it could take three or four months for everything to come back, and could take longer, because everyone is different."

Raising the issue of Covid-19 vaccinations, he said: "I see some people saying they won't take the vaccine.

"If I could take it now, I would take it, because I wouldn't want to go through this again, and if I went through it again I mightn't survive it. There are people dying who are in their 50s and 60s, and some people don't realise that."

While he has been through a very difficult few months, Martin has managed to retain his sense of humour in spite of it all.

"My wife got (the virus) first and transferred it over. She said, 'Don't ever say I gave you nothing!'" he laughed.

"A few lads used to ring me for the craic. Our local graveyard is Tubber, and one lad told me, 'Go out and sit in the hole in Tubber - I don't think you'll make it!'

"So, you have to laugh, but the thing itself is no joke, I can tell you," he concluded.