The flu times 3: Harnett man home, recovering from coronavirus
“Staying at home isn’t going to kill you,” Jeff Hensley told the Fayetteville Observer. “This virus could kill you.”
Hensley has a straightforward message about the coronavirus: Take it seriously.
He was the first person in Harnett County to test positive for COVID-19, the disease associated with the novel coronavirus. After weeks of frightening illness, he is on the mend. Friday marked his fourth day without a fever, one of the signature symptoms of the coronavirus.
Hensley spent several days in the intensive care unit of Central Harnett Hospital in Lillington after he had difficulty breathing.
Hensley’s wife, a nurse was caring for him in their Bunnlevel home until late last week, until she found him on the floor in the middle of the night, struggling to breathe.
"He stopped between the bathroom and the bedroom, and he was down on the floor saying, 'I can’t make it. I just can’t do this," Toni Hensley said.
"It felt like a lot of pressure on my chest – my lungs just burning," he said, "just not being able to catch my breath and feeling really winded. I would say it is at least three times worse than the flu for me.
