GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. — Father Mark Przybysz of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Community has recovered from COVID-19, and he says he is seeing life in a "whole new way" after beating the virus.
Fr. Mark said he started to feel sick on Monday, March 16. A couple of days later, he was filling a prescription at St. Mary's hospital when he fainted. After being rushed to the ER, he was told he didn't qualify for a COVID-19 test.
He continued to feel ill and it did not get better.
On March 25, he was completely drained of energy, and said he couldn't walk more than five feet. His doctor told him to get to the ER, where they took a CT scan of his chest. The scan prompted doctors to test him for COVID-19.
"I was very very, very sick when I came into the ER and they didn't know if I would survive," said Fr. Mark.
After a hard fight, he did survive and was released from the hospital five days later, returned home and self quarantined.
He said now he is out of quarantine but still isolating himself so he can regain his strength. That recovery and healing will be a big part of his Easter Sunday message.
"It's all about new life and hope, and I'm seeing life in a whole new way now because I never had somebody tell me that they didn't think I was going to live," Fr. Mark said. "And I have a new life and so this Easter has a lot of meaning."
Fr. Mark added because of this journey he wanted speak for people who have lost battles to COVID-19 especially people who couldn't get proper health care.
"I mean I had people speaking up for me, I was alone in the hospital because the family couldn't come. Nobody could come in and see me. But I knew I had great support, Fr. Mark said "But I think that once all this is done. I need to use my advocacy voice, and I need to use my prayer to help raise the voice for some concerns that this was not good."
His parish will not be able to see his message in person but it will be live streamed. Fr. Mark understands this Easter will be different for families but social distancing is important.
"Stay home. It's the only way we're going to address this," he said. "And if we want to stay healthy and we want to protect those we love, we need to stay home."
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