'Just get the damn shot': Calgary man encourages vaccine hesitant like himself after 2-week ICU stay
Bernie Cook says he has a new outlook on life after a nearly month-long battle against the Delta variant of COVID-19.
The 46-year-old Calgary man says he had no plans to get vaccinated — until Aug 31.
“I was really tired, really tired, no energy,” he said. “And it just got worse.”
On Sept. 1, Cook tested positive for the COVID-19 and his symptoms continued to spiral out of control.
Five days later, on Sept. 6, Cook was admitted to the ER at Peter Lougheed Centre, before being sent home.
The next day he was admitted to hospital once again and on Sept. 9 he was admitted to the ICU, attached to a ventilator with tubes down his throat.
"I'm kind of anti-vax,” said Cook from his northeast home where he is now recovering. "I procrastinated, and it nearly cost me my life."
Cook says his wife is fully-vaccinated along with other family members. None showed symptoms after Cook was diagnosed.
“Nearly dying was quite an experience,” he said.
Cook was released from hospital on Sept. 23.
Bernie Cook says he received 'top notch care' while in hospital. (Courtesy AHS)
“The care that I got was top notch,” he said. “The staff are way overwhelmed. They're beyond overwhelmed. I wouldn't be alive if it wasn't for them.”
Cook says he can sympathize with people who are against vaccine mandates and public health restrictions.
“I understand them. You know, vaccine passports does not stop COVID,” he said.
But Cook believes some of that comes from not having seen the inside of a hospital, the way he has.
“If people saw that side of what I saw, that would make a difference,” he said. “They would realize that there's a lot of selfishness in, in, you know, you're taking my rights away.”
The night before his release, Cook received his first dose of the vaccine.
“Just get the damn shot,” he exclaimed.
“Even I was asking the wrong questions. I'm so focused on big pharma and ethics violations and all the stuff that anti-vaxxers are gonna be concerned about.”
Bernie Cook was diagnosed on Sept. 1 and was in ICU eight days later. (Courtesy AHS)
Cook's wife was unable to visit him in hospital throughout the ordeal but his brother did, while he was in a coma.
He says the PLC has three dedicated COVID-19 units along with the ICU being full of patients. He hopes people in a similar position to him, who have not been vaccinated, don’t experience what he did.
“I do have a new appreciation and presence in the present moment,” said Cook.
“I'm ready to live. I'm ready to move forward. I'm ready to heal and grow.”
The number of Albertans receiving care for COVID-19 in ICUs rose to a record level, according to Friday's data update which saw the province add 5,181 cases over the weekend.
It's the 11th time in September alone that a new record high has been set for the province's ICU patient count, which now stands at 265.
Monday's update included data from Friday, Saturday and Sunday.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Several flight attendants from Pakistan have gone missing after landing in Canada
Multiple flight attendants from Pakistan International Airlines have abandoned their jobs and are believed to have sought asylum in Canada in the past year and a half, a spokesperson for the government-owned airline says.
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
What happens after we die? Most Canadians say an afterlife does exist, survey shows
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.