I had thought this was the end: Covid-19 survivor parish priest

Father Joe D’Souza at St. John the Evangelist Church at Ballard Estate, Fort. Pic/Bipin Kokate

It has been a month since Father Joseph D'Souza, commonly known as Joe D'Souza, parish priest of St. John the Evangelist Church at Ballard Estate, Fort, was admitted to hospital with Covid-19 and subsequently discharged, but he never forgets to reinforce his message, "Life, family and friends are worth more than all the money in the world."

Along with stories of doom and gloom, Coronavirus has accounts of sunshine and light too - mere chances that have turned into life-saving opportunities. That is the story of Father Joe D'Souza, who said, "A few days before April 11, I started feeling sluggish and had a loss of appetite. When my oxygen saturation was at 93 for two days consecutively, another priest, Father Tarsi, saw a red flag. We contacted Holy Family Hospital in Bandra West and I was taken straight to the ICU. My battle against the virus had started."

I surrender

Father D'Souza said that on April 13 things took a turn for the worse. "I suddenly started gasping for breath, I was on the edge of my bed, saying: doctors, nurse, save me. I cannot breathe. I was also shivering a lot. In that state, I had one thought running through my mind - this is the end. I said to myself, Holy Spirit I am surrendering to you."

The rebirth

Then something happened, which Father D'Souza claimed led to what he cites as "my rebirth." He said, "The hard-to-procure Alzumab injection was needed. Father Daniel Fernandes of Mt. Carmel Church, Bandra West, coordinated with the hospital and got the injection, which was originally with a patient, also in the ICU, who just happened to have an extra vial. It was divine intervention."

Father D'Souza claimed his shivers subsided and he felt an overall improvement in his condition after being administered the injection. "That another patient, who was also in the ICU happened to have an extra injection, was miraculous," he recalled. Father Fernandes gave the credit to Holy Family hospital. "Their staff is slogging for hours in this fight against Covid-19. They bring divine light with their duty."

Fortunate co-incidence

Collin Pereira from Vikhroli East was the patient who inadvertently may have saved Father D'Souza. "I was in the ICU, fighting against Covid-19 at the same time. I do not know exactly, but I heard that the extra injection which was sourced by my family for me, was used for a priest."

Blaise Fernandes, Collin Pereira's cousin said, "It so happened that we managed to procure the injection from two people, there was some mix-up in timings, that is why we had an extra one. We have priests in our family too. We are elated that it may have saved a life or at least improved somebody's health. "God sends us on earth for a purpose. Maybe, having an extra injection was that," finished the cousin brothers.