The whole republic knows him as the taxi driver. The first patient with Covid-19 who received the experimental drug remdesivir. Mr. Robert fought for his life with his team of doctors for many weeks. He was in horrible pain and begged to be taken off life support. The doctors from the General University Hospital promised him that he could finally go home on Monday. In an interview he gave at the hospital, he confided that he had lost all hope of his survival. According to his own words, God and the thoughts of his deceased mother have been his greatest support.
"I begged God for my life and I had a little hope that it would turn out well, but I didn't believe it much,"
the man whose fate has been watched by the whole country remembers with tears in his eyes. The coronavirus made him realize many things. While confined to bed, he had time to think about what truly mattered in life. He realized that there was no reason to be chasing material things. Thanks to that, he came to the decision that after after being released from the hospital and returning to normal life, he wouldn't go back to driving a taxi.
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Robert alias taxikář se podruhé narodil. Source: Všeobecná fakultní nemocnice v Praze
He quit his career as a taxi driver
"I used to work nights a lot, there were even times when my life was in danger. But I didn't expect that I could be infected with something, something so terrible, and that it could cost me my life, so I never want to do this job again. I'll do something else, find something. Money is not everything,"
he says with newfound awareness, reluctantly remembering the days when he was worst off. When he wanted to give up his fight for life. While still in the hospital in Krč, he claims to have been suffocating, which reduced him to such agony that he allegedly begged the doctors to take him off life support and let him die at one point. When he woke up from an artificial sleep, he realized that he was on a ventilator, with a catheter in his bodyn and in great pain. Next to him, a man was dying, whose children were pleading with him to keep fighting.
"That completely destroyed me mentally."
The ability to speak was a breakthrough
Robert knew that many people were keeping their fingers crossed for him. That he wasn't alone in his fight, and so he slowly started to believe that he would recover and gained some hope.
"I had a mucus suction tube inserted in my throat. When they pulled it out, I spoke a bit like a duck, but I was extremely happy for that. That was the first time when I thought I might be just fine,"
he smiles.
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Naděje umírá poslední.Source: Pixabay
It's not an ordinary flu
The patient experienced the worst form of coronavirus. That's why he wishes to let everyone who still thinks covid-19 is like the common flu know that it's not true.
"When you have the flu, with paralen, coldrex and hot tea, you're fine in three or four days, but this... This will break you. This virus will wreck you. It can affect your kidneys, liver and who knows what else, but the first thing it's going to work on are your lungs. It's something terrible."
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Ve Všeobecné fakultní nemocnici v Praze zachránili Robertovi život.Source: Všeobecná fakultní nemocnice v Praze
Finally, Robert appeals to everyone that they should read the Bible, even if they are atheists. Its pages say how people should live and how they should treat each other.
"It would be nice if people showed love to each other and stopped hurting each other. And most of all, they should protect their health, and be grateful for every sunrise and every day, every minute of their lives, because life is a gift from God."
