Blake Wesley (Facebook photo)

By Troy Gillard and Josh Hall

"DON’T LET YOUR EGO AND PRIDE GET IN THE WAY"

Former NHLer who battled virus says don’t underestimate COVID-19

Nov 3, 2020 | 5:48 PM

Blake Wesley thought he was immune from COVID-19 – until he found out the hard way that he wasn’t.

“I’ve had pneumonia, I’ve had bronchitis – you can intensify that by ten times,” the 61-year-old Red Deer native said Monday from Sankt Pölten, Austria, where he’s working at a hockey academy.

“I took a lot of precautions from the time I left North America in August,” he told rdnewsNOW. “We were wearing masks on the airplane and in the airports, restaurants and public places, (doing) proper sanitization, no handshaking, no hugging or physical contact, (practicing) physical distancing. And then I get here and we still practiced really good habits.”

He began feeling symptoms – including headache, racing heartbeat, nausea and loss of appetite – on Oct. 2 and initially shrugged it off to stress and fatigue.

“When (it feels like) somebody is sitting or standing on your chest, and it’s hard to breathe and your heart is absolutely racing because it feels like you’re having a panic attack and can’t catch your breath… I knew something was wrong, I just didn’t want to admit to it.”

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Wesley went for a COVID-19 test on Oct. 6 and received a positive result the next day. He began his recovery by isolating at home before his breathing and chest pains became “excruciating” enough that he checked into a local hospital before being transferred to a COVID-19 specific hospital for a grueling month-long battle with the virus.

He went on a ventilator and received multiple daily infusions, including the experimental drug Remdesivir, as part of his intensive treatment.

“It was exhaustive and quite honestly what drained me the most was when the doctors came in to do the second test and they said ‘Nope, you’re not going home.’ I got pretty weepy and teary-eyed because there’s no one there to comfort you,” he said as he recounted the immense emotional toll of the virus.

With his wife back in Penticton, B.C. while he lay in a hospital bed in Austria, Wesley admits he went through some dark times.

“Being in lockdown and isolation really wears on your mental capacity and it tests you. But I got a lot of support from family, friends, coworkers, and people from the hockey community, which is very close-knit.”

Despite dealing with a significant language barrier due to his limited command of the German language, he says the medical team at the hospital took great care of him.

“One day, a doctor came and sat on my bedside, put her hand on my shoulder, and I’ll never forget it. She wanted to give a little bit of comfort and she say that we’ll get through this cooperatively. We did the test four times and I never got to the recommended PCR threshold, but the doctor authorized me to go home because I was symptom free.”

He left hospital on Oct. 23 and since then has improved tremendously to the point where he’s ready to return to the rink.

Wesley detailed his experience with COVID-19 in a lengthy Facebook post on Sunday.

The former Red Deer Rustler who played in the NHL with Philadelphia, Hartford, Quebec and Toronto, says anyone who experiences COVID-19 symptoms should take it seriously.

“Don’t disregard them and don’t think that you can fight this battle on your own. If you can’t breathe and have a rapid heart rate and all the other symptoms that I experienced, you need to call and get help,” he urged.

“If you don’t, you’re going to infect other people that come into your environment, or you go into their environment, which could’ve happened to me if I tried to ride it out. Get help from medical professionals and don’t be complacent. Don’t let your ego and pride get in the way, and don’t be arrogant because this is a fast moving virus and it just consumes you.”

(rdnewsNOW)