LOOK: Rousing welcome for Gugulethu rugby legend after close call with Covid-19
|Published
Cape Town – “I thought I was going to die but I said let me rather die exercising than sleeping.”
Those were the words of 72-year-old rugby legend and Gugulethu’s Broadhurst Cona, who survived the coronavirus.
Cona, who together with his parents was forcibly removed from Simon’s Town because of apartheid’s Group Areas Act in 1965, received a rousing welcome from friends and family when he arrived home on Saturday after being discharged from Groote Schuur Hospital, where he spent 21 days under the full supervision of nurses.
Cona, a member of a local walking club, attributes his recovery to physical fitness and discipline. He thought he would not make it as three of his friends had died from the virus.
“I never showed any symptoms of the virus. I went to the hospital because I had no appetite. I then tested positive for the virus and that shocked me. It started to sink into my mind after the fourth day at the hospital.
Gugulethu rugby legend Broadcast Thobeni Picture: Ayanda Ndamane / African News Agency (ANA)
“I did not have any hope that I am going to survive this virus at all but because of the care and treatment I received at the hospital I am here today. I had a tremendous experience at the hospital. Three of my friends did not make it and that worried me very much, thinking that I might be next.
“I remember when I was at the hospital, when I ran out of breath, I stood up from the bed and went straight to the window and I started stretching. I started jogging. It was sore and I was jogging on one spot because there’s no space. I did press-ups and it was very sore. I thought I was going to die but I said rather let me die exercising than sleeping,” said Coma.
He was sent to a recovery facility for 11 days. The Western Cape has recorded 40 232 confirmed cases, 1 048 deaths and 27 527 recoveries.
Black rugby legend Broadhurst Cona, from Gugulethu, arrives home. Picture: Ayanda Ndamane / African News Agency (ANA)
“I am back to my normal life now, I miss jogging in the mornings but I was told to at least stay indoors for a few days. God willing, next week I am going back to the gym.
“I urge everyone who has not been affected by the virus to exercise because that has helped me a lot while I was at the hospital.
"It also helps with the immune system and also people should constantly drink hot water with lemons and ginger,” he said.
His daughter Kholiswa said they were excited that her father managed to defeat the virus.
“Everyone in the family was very worried about my father’s health situation and what made it worse were the increasing statistics that we saw on television everyday.
"We thought to ourselves that he might not make it due to his age and health conditions but we kept on praying.
“We could feel his absence in the house as he is a very talkative and funny person to be around. I could not sleep or eat for days as I was always thinking about my father,” she said.