Photos: After 114 days in ICU, Catalan COVID-19 patient soaks up seaside sunshine

Sun, sea gave long-haul COVID patients 'boost of vitality, desire to continue fighting'

Last updated: March 28, 2021 | 15:18

Reuters and Compiled by Nathaniel Lacsina, Senior Web Editor

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Madrid: Medical staff rolled Joan Soler Sendra, 63, across the street in his hospital bed to bask on the sunlit seashore, in his first outing after almost four months in intensive care in Barcelona's Hospital del Mar.

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Sendra and his two brothers were infected with the coronavirus last November in Catalunya - but only Sendra had to go to hospital.

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After finally managing to breathe without a respirator this week, Sendra, the ward's longest-staying patient, was due for some sea-and-sun therapy.

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"To us it's a shot of morale, a boost," said Sendra's brother, Jaume Soler, lowering his mask so that Sendra, who lost his hearing as a baby due to meningitis, could read his lips.

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Dr Andrea Castellvi, deputy head of the hospital's intensive care service, said being able to go out and see their families, the sun and the sea gave long-haul COVID-19 patients "a boost of vitality and a desire to continue fighting".

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Castellvi said Sendra's initial symptoms were flu-like, but worsened within days to a high fever and body weakness, meaning he could neither walk nor breathe by himself. "But now we are progressing, little by little."

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Patient Joan Soler Sendra, 63, who is deaf and mute, looks at the sea as part of a "sea therapy" session, 114 days after he was admitted to Hospital del Mar for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Barcelona, Spain.

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