Just a year ago, 24-year-old Brady Moore never thought he would become infected with COVID-19. Today, he is a survivor of the disease who was left with long term symptoms.
Moore was infected in March of 2020, when not a lot was known about the coronavirus or its symptoms and tests were hard to get.
“I would wake up every morning and kind of do a test breath with my lungs if you will and I would be coughing maybe 3 to 5 minutes afterwards,” Moore said.
As of Sunday, more than 500,000 people have died from the disease in the United States. Moore said he had serious symptoms for two weeks, but did not have to be hospitalized.
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“It progressed to the point where I had pneumonia, and just thinking about it and realizing that, how difficult a time I had, it's heartbreaking to think other people are going through that and ultimately losing their lives from it," he said.
Moore lost his sense of smell and taste. Other symptoms have not gone away, and although he's been able to get back to his normal life and work, he can't help but wonder how long they'll last.
“I’ve also noticed some trouble breathing, some pains in my chest generally when I wake up, and just realizing that my body takes a little bit more time to get back into the swing of things than it used to,” Moore said.
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He believes the vaccine will save lives and hopes it’ll soon become more widely available, so he can get it as soon as he’s eligible.
"It is very serious, and although it might have a low mortality rate, definitely you should get the vaccine if you're able to," Moore said.
