I contracted Covid around March 10, 2020, at the National Curling Championships in Laurel, MD, at which over 100 people were infected, including 17 of us from Bismarck. I was very sick on my return from Maryland and tested positive about March 20 at Sanford Clinic.

I was hospitalized for 30 days and spent 11 days on a ventilator. I suffered a retroperitoneal hemorrhage and a plexopathy that impeded my left femoral nerve and left my left leg pretty much paralyzed. It took ten months to be able to lift my left leg by itself. I’m still only partially recovered.

Due to hemorrhaging in my pleural cavity, I had three thorocenteses and finally a thoracotomy on June 10, 2020. I experienced severe atrial fibrillation, and a Watchman procedure was done in December 2020.

I have partial paralysis of my left quadriceps, experience periodic tingling in my hands and feet, and have had a slow recovery from extreme loss of weight and strength. I also experience chronic fatigue and minor smell, and peripheral nerve impairments.

I was an avid hunter, golfer, and curler. I am a biologist and wildlife conservationist who enjoys travel, hiking, rockhounding, and bird watching.

It has been a horrible disease for me and many other people. Those who are infected and don’t experience severe symptoms are lucky. It is not something to mess with.

If you do not get vaccinated, you are taking a substantial risk and being foolish and inconsiderate of others and the bigger picture.