“Live healthy, eat healthy. Follow everything that the government and doctors ask you to do, including staying at home and washing hands. Then we will survive coronavirus for sure...'' This is the message that Thomas—one of the oldest patients to survive COVID-19 virus in the world—has for the world.
A native of Ranni in Pathanamthitta district of Kerala, Thomas was one of the first set of COVID-19 patients in the country. He was discharged from the Medical College Hospital, Kottayam on Friday.
Thomas had just had his favourite food—tapioca and fish curry—when The WEEK contacted the family.
“That is Appachan's (grandfather) food... In fact he loves everything local,'' said Rijo, his youngest grandson, who had come from Italy last month.
Thomas is relived that he is back home after spending weeks in the hospital. “He cried aloud the moment he stepped into the home and hugged us all,'' said Rijo, who is a radiotherapist in a hospital in Italy.
Thomas and his 89-year-old wife Mariyamma had got infected with COVID-19 after his youngest son and his family came to visit them from Italy. “We were so scared for them and were dying of guilt as they got this illness at this old age because we came to visit them. Now we all are so relieved,'' Rijo, 26, told THE WEEK.
The family—Thomas's youngest son, wife, daughter and son—had migrated to Italy when Rijo was five. “I had not met Appachan for the last four years and he had been calling me relentlessly saying he wanted to see me before he dies. That was how we came to Kerala in February,'' said Rijo.
But that trip turned out to be eventful for the family after they were diagnosed with COVID-19 infection soon after reaching Kerala. The state government quarantined the family immediately. Sending shivers across the state, their relatives also were found positive for the virus. All of them are now back home after recovering.
“We may have got the infection during our flight from Italy. None of our friends or relatives in Italy whom we had met just before the trip has tested positive yet,'' said Rijo.
While the entire family tested positive in Kerala, only Thomas and Mariamma had shown severe symptoms like fever and head ache.
Though relieved, Thomas, a traditional farmer, was slightly tired after the journey from the medical college. According to his family members, he is very healthy for his age and eats everything grown locally. He would love to go to his farm lands even at this age.
“That is something he must have missed the most while in hospital. He used to quarrel with the nurses initially as he was not allowed to leave the room. But by the time they left the room, they both had become very pally with the nurses,'' said the grandson.
When asked whether Thomas was aware of the seriousness of the illness, Rijo said that he sensed it after seeing the masks and other unusual stuffs that the doctors and nurses wore in the hospital.
“We all, especially Appachan and Ammachy, are safely back home only because we are in Kerala. Had they been in Italy, they would have been left to die,'' said Rijo hinting at the fact that old people are left unattended in Italy as the country is facing a huge number of COVID-19 cases.
''The care with which the Kerala government and the doctors and nurses treated us is so touching. Nowhere else, not even in the so called advanced countries will we get such a treatment. We are so grateful,'' said Rijo.
The fact that a 93-year-old could survive coronavirus means that we do not need to panic, he said and added: “Do not fear but be alert, that is the key.”
