‘Never felt so scared of dying’: Father-of-three football manager, 38, was nearly killed by Covid after catching it with ‘mild symptoms’ last year then putting off jab because he ‘assumed he had antibodies’
- Chester football manager, 38, thought he was going to die after catching Covid
- Anthony Johnson spent a week in hospital after testing positive for the virus
- He caught virus with ‘mild symptoms’ last year then put off getting the jab
- Father-of-three Mr Johnson is urging sceptics to get inoculated against Covid
Chester football manager Anthony Johnson said he thought he was going to die after being hospitalised with Covid and is now warning vaccine sceptics: ‘The most ridiculous thing I could do was not take time to get the jab.’
The former Salford City boss, 38, spent a week in Fairfield General Hospital in Bury, Greater Manchester in July after testing positive for the virus and suffering kidney failure, blood clots on his lungs and a 42C fever.
Now recovering at home, father-of-three Mr Johnson – who insisted he is not an antivaxxer but refrained from getting vaccinated after previously suffering a mild illness from Covid – is urging sceptics to get inoculated against the virus.
He said: ‘I am not an anti-vaxxer or a conspiracy theorist or anything like that. I just thought, I’ve had it once, I have probably got antibodies now, so when I get time, I will get it done. It is the most ridiculous decision I have ever made in my life.
‘I would pay every single penny I have got to never feel the way I did two weeks ago. My wife has been double jabbed and the most ridiculous thing I could do was not take time to get the jab. How can you not have time for your own health? I could have died two weeks ago.
‘To get it the way I have just shows not only can you get it again, but you can get it to the point where it could kill you. I am not trying to exaggerate the point, but I know where I was with this.
‘Any advice I would give to people is go and get the jab.’
Chester football manager Anthony Johnson said he thought he was going to die after being hospitalised with Covid as he warned vaccine sceptics: ‘The most ridiculous thing I could do was not take time to get the jab’
Mr Johnson (left), pictured in February 2018 during his time as Salford City co-manager with co-manager Bernard Morley (right)
Ministers already ordered an extra 60million doses of Pfizer’s Covid vaccine for this year’s campaign to give out third doses, which would be enough to give top-ups to all 54million British adults and fully vaccinate the 1.4million 16- and 17-year-olds who are now eligible
Mr Johnson, who rose to fame in the BBC documentary Class of 92: Out of Their League, tested positive for Covid last month after his daughter Bella, nine, caught it at school.
He isolated and experienced flu-like symptoms before he was taken to hospital with serious breathing problems. Paramedics arriving at his home were even forced to use a defibrillator after they struggled to find a pulse, Mr Johnson claimed.
Mr Johnson waited five hours before he was taken in because the Bury hospital was overwhelmed. Eventually he was moved to the Covid ward, where he was put in a bed next to elderly patients.
There, he was diagnosed with pneumonia, was forced to wear an oxygen mask and was temporarily wheelchair-bound. To make matters worse, he could not see wife Kayla and kids Lewis, 16, Bella and Zac, seven.
Mr Johnson said: ‘I was saying to the nurses and doctors, ‘I know I’m not as poorly as everyone else is in here.
Mr Johnson (far right), pictured in August 2015 during his time as Salford City co-manager with (l-r) players Jason Jarrett, Gareth Seddon, and co-manager Bernard Morley
Daily Covid infections recorded in the UK yesterday rose by 8.4 per cent compared to the same day last week, with 23.510 people testing positive. But deaths and hospitalisations are still a fraction of the numbers seen in previous waves, suggesting curbs to control the spread will not be imposed in the near future
‘And the doctor said, ‘You are, your kidneys are failing, your blood oxygen level is lower than anybody else’s in here, you’re as poorly – if not worse – than everybody else’. When he said that it struck a chord with me at how close I was to probably dying.’
After seven nights in hospital, Mr Johnson is now feeling ‘a million times better’ – and was overwhelmed by the support of Chester.
He added: ‘It has just been absolutely unbelievable. You realise how important you are to some people. I’m a nobody, I’m not a celebrity, I’m not a famous football manager. But I’ve had thousands and thousands and thousands of messages from people.
‘The players sent me a montage video with them and Bernard Morley, our co-manager.
‘I cried. Before that, I’d never cried in my whole life.’
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