Bedridden, unable to sleep, with body aches and pains that not even strong pain relief could mask, Kim Hanrahan did not know how her COVID symptoms could get any worse.
But they did.
"It was during my daily COVID call with DHHS that I was unable to talk properly — they, thankfully, realised how unwell I was and advised to call an ambulance straightaway," Ms Hanrahan said.
"With a very low blood oxygen level, I was taken to Footscray Hospital's emergency department. I was put on oxygen, and given fluids, steroids and medication to help combat the disease."
The mother of two got the virus in July 2020 — before any vaccines were available.
She is one of two people who spoke at Tuesday's COVID-19 press conference, urging Victorians to get vaccinated and avoid a similar fate.
Ms Hanrahan, who has two nine-year-old twin boys, would spend the next six days in the intensive care unit, trying to get rid of the virus.
Yet, the 49-year-old said she was luckier than many.
"[I was] so lucky to not be on a ventilator like so many patients around me," she said.
"My lungs had collapsed and I required constant flow of oxygen. I was regularly on a machine with an invasive full head mask with fast-flowing air."
'I have aged 10 years'
But COVID-19 took more than her health.
"It also stripped me of my dignity, unable to go to the bathroom or wash myself," Ms Hanrahan said.
"I thank them for their altruism and the sacrifice on their personal and family lives."
After ICU, the Newport resident said she spent nearly a week isolated in a hospital room as her blood oxygen was still very low.
"Every day, I desperately hoped my health would improve so I could go home to see my beautiful boys," she said.
"My husband was solely looking after them in isolation which took a toll on all of them. We were lucky enough to have a great community that would drop off food at the front door."
However, her symptoms did not stop even after she was rid of COVID-19. Recovery was slow.
"A couple of months after leaving hospital, unexpectedly, my hair started falling out and I lost about three-quarters of it over a six-week period," Ms Hanrahan said.
"This temporary hair loss was due to the trauma my body had gone through getting COVID."
She said before catching COVID-19, she had no underlying health issues and was a "reasonably healthy woman".
"Fourteen months later and I feel that I have aged 10 years," Ms Hanrahan said.
"I feel a lesser version of myself due to this horrible, debilitating disease which makes me sad for my boys."
Ms Hanrahan said she had a message to give to the community.
"We are so lucky in this country to have access to vaccines and great healthcare," she said.
"If I got the Delta variant before vaccines were introduced, I truly don't know if I would be standing here today talking to you.
Former athlete struggles to get out of bed after COVID
Will caught COVID-19 in March 2020, three days after coming home from Boston where he had been studying.
He has been battling long COVID every since.
"The initial illness was incredibly frightening. The feeling of straining against your own body," Will said.
"Trying to expand your lungs against this invisible force, struggling to breathe.
"But it was, in medical terms, a 'mild' case. I wasn't hospitalised. I was never in ICU. And I was officially cleared after a couple of weeks."
But he said a lot of people didn't realise even a mild case of the virus could turn into long COVID, severely impacting life for far longer.
"The conversations around COVID often focus on two drastically different ends of the spectrum," Will said.
Will said he had been an athlete, but the virus left him debilitated.
He said long COVID was real and it was also "random", characterised by periods of remission interspersed with intense symptom flare-ups.
"It can take many forms and, for me, that meant months after my diagnosis I still couldn't walk around the block without getting light-headed and needing to lie down, struggling to breathe," he said.
But he is not out of the woods yet.
"These days, a relapse can be brought on by something as simple as walking the dog or going for a kick of the footy," Will said.
"The physical impacts are lessening over time. I can now go through long stretches where I'm mostly OK. But I'm still nowhere near normal."
Will said long COVID-19 took its toll in many ways and it was the invisible impacts that mentally wore him down.
"The shame of constantly having to tell people that you're still not better yet," he said.
"The frustration you feel with your own body that you just can't seem to get over this post-viral syndrome. And the constant fear and anxiety that, at any moment, the symptoms can come back."
Will said there were no vaccines available when he fell sick, but people now had a choice.
"It doesn't matter how young you are. It doesn't matter how fit you are. And it doesn't matter how indestructible you feel, COVID can still hit you," he said.
"And you don't have to be on a ventilator to have your life turned upside down for months, or maybe even years. Why take that risk?
"I felt so powerless for such a long time.
