Student nurse battles COVID and wins

Within just a few hours Jamal Ambris went from experiencing slight COVID-19 symptoms to being on a ventilator fighting for his life.

It was an experience the 33-year-old student nurse would never forget.

Recalling the events which led to him being kept at three different isolation facilities in a two-week span, Ambris said that even after testing positive for COVID-19 back on September 14 he never expected the events that followed.

He said being a young man with no known underlying health issues he felt his body would have been able to fight off the respiratory virus that has so far claimed 182 lives in Barbados and over five million worldwide. He decided to get tested after coming down with a runny nose, fever and constant sneezing, symptoms which he said were strange to him.

Ambris said up to this day he does not know how he contracted the respiratory virus as he was not an outgoing person and was usually at home. He maintained that he took the protocols seriously and as such always wore a mask and sanitized regularly.

He revealed that after his positive test he was transported to the Blackman and Gollop School, one of several schools that has been transformed into an isolation facility.

“I was taking it in stride because I was still feeling okay apart from the symptoms I mentioned before,” Ambris said.

He disclosed that one day later he was relocated to the Lester Vaughn School. It was while there he took a turn for the worst.

“When I got there I was still feeling good but after my fourth day there I started to feel sick. I had low energy and I was light-headed, I couldn’t stand for long periods of time and I couldn’t walk for long periods of time. At first, my vitals were pretty ok but then they started to decline,” Ambris said.

“On that day I was trying to go and bathe but when I tried to go down the stairs I realized how weak I was because my legs started to tremble and that is when I knew something was really wrong.”

He said someone who saw him struggling called the nurse and it was later discovered that his oxygen level was extremely low.

“I was put on oxygen and transferred to Harrison’s Point and put in the secondary isolation. I could barely move, I lost my appetite. The things I wanted to do I really couldn’t do,” Ambris admitted.

“My oxygen levels dropped to high 80s which is pretty bad. Once your oxygen level isn’t at least 95 or up you’re in trouble.”

Ambris said he remained on a respirator for eight days and during that period, there were times when he did not think he was going to make it.

“There were definitely a couple nights when something as simple as a cough or sneeze would throw me into a fit where I would be gasping for air or bringing up mucus which left me feeling like I couldn’t breathe.

“I would reach over and increase my oxygen and then I would try to calm myself down so that I could slow my breathing because I didn’t want to panic and make things worse,” Ambris said.

He lauded staff at the isolation facilities for taking good care of him and his family and friends for supporting him throughout the ordeal.

Ambris said the experience had fueled his passion to become a nurse since he wanted to be in a profession where he could help others. That drive has not changed since returning home.

“It’s not that I was taking it for granted before but in terms of how it has changed me it has made me look to work harder to become better so I can affect change in the society. I’m studying to become a nurse and it’s not only about learning to become a nurse but it’s also about being able to take that knowledge and apply it when you get out there and do the best you can to help people,” Ambris pointed out. randybennett@barbadostoday.bb