‘You go asleep and hope God will wake you up’: Irish mum with Covid-19 shares video from hospital

Dublin woman Yvonne Kinsella shares her heartbreaking experience of Covid-19 with RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live show

Yvonne Kinsella, a mother of two and a grandmother of two, is currently in hospital fighting Covid-19 and pneumonia.

With a compromised immune system and asthma, Yvonne tried desperately to self-isolate. Despite taking all necessary precautions, she has found herself with “unbearable pain and a high temperature” as a result of the coronavirus.

The Dublin native says she doesn’t know how she got it. In a video taken on her phone and sent to RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live show, she begs people not to be fools, to take the precautions seriously, and not to risk their life or that of their family.

Watch Yvonne’s heartbreaking video in full below.

Yvonne’s message and video

“I got here the other night, and I thought, ‘Oh my god, am I going to come back out?

“I asked my husband to find a will that we had in a drawer – and I signed it. I just hated it… And I told him to mind the kids,” Yvonne says, fighting back tears.

“I thought my heart was going to give up, the pain was unbearable. My temperature is still up, my heartbeat is still going up. All I can do is hope that I turn a corner and in a week or so I will be okay again.

“You go asleep and you just hope that God will wake you up,” she says. “That you don’t have to go to ICU.

“Every time the doctor comes in, you hope that they’re not coming to tell you bad news.

“When they told us the other night we were all positive, it was heartbreaking because we couldn’t get out to comfort each other.

“The staff are unreal. The staff are unbelievable,” Yvonne adds. “They have to go home to their own families. Some of them haven’t seen their families, but they’re still in looking after you.

“I’m just hoping that I’ll turn a corner, that I will get out to see my kids and grandkids again.

“I’d say to people, don’t be fools. I don’t know how I got it. Don’t risk your life, don’t risk your family’s life. You never know when it’s going to change.

“You just keep hoping that you’re on the road to recovery and it can’t get any worse. And you pray that your breathing is going to get better and that the pain in your chest will go away.

“That’s all you can hope for.”

Feature photo: Yvonne Kinsella via RTÉ’s Claire Byrne Live

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