An unvaccinated physical trainer thought COVID antibodies would protect him. He almost died.

Bill Phillips is a changed man.

The Colorado fitness expert, who worked as a expert in nutrition and performance supplements for the Denver Broncos in the late 1990s and is the author of “Body-for-LIFE” – He almost died after a two-month battle with COVID-19 because he didn’t think he needed a vaccine.

Until about two weeks ago, the 56-year-old was in a medically induced coma and was connected to a ventilator. He spent 47 days intubated and lost 70 pounds, the Denver Post reported.

He said his previous ability to “press the bench 300 pounds or run a mile up a hill“He did not reduce his symptoms and still has oxygen. But physicality is not the only transformation Phillips has experienced from his daunting near-death experience. He also has a new mood.

He now believes that everyone should be vaccinated against COVID-19.

“If it could happen to me, it could happen to anyone,” Phillips told the Denver newspaper. “It is not a political issue. It’s a public health issue. “

“I made a mistake. That mistake came so close to costing me my life,” he told local broadcaster KUSA.

Phillips told KUSA he caught the virus twice. The first time was in January 2020 and a test showed he had antibodies. Because of this, Phillips assumed he was immune and did not need to be vaccinated.

Then, in June 2021, Phillips began to feel ill. He told KUSA that he and his wife, Maria Phillips, initially abandoned her as a sinus infection. He then developed a cough so severe that he went to the emergency room.

“If only we had waited another hour. Bill may have just taken a nap and not woken up, ”Maria Phillips told KUSA. He was then intubated and he did not wake up for 18 days. On Wednesday, the couple left the hospital after a two-month stay.

And while Bill Phillips told the local dam he has “suffered a lot” in recent months, so has his wife.

“If Bill knew everything, the trauma, the pain, which should have happened every day for the last two months, I think he would have been vaccinated if he had known the pain it would cause.” she said.

Bill Phillips accepted the reflection.

“Get the shot. Get the vaccine. Keep up your life. Don’t take risks, ”he told KUSA. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends vaccines for those who have had COVID-19, citing evidence that the shots provide better protection than a past infection.

Maria Phillips added at the outset that the “vaccinated will not end” in her husband’s situation.

Bill Phillips plans to get the vaccine his birthday in September. Maria Phillips was vaccinated while in the hospital; like her husband, she also had COVID and believed that this left her immune.

“We didn’t understand that this was possible,” he told the Denver Post. “Bill will probably never be the same, but we’re so grateful he’s alive.”