Affected by a long covid, deputy Raphaël Gérard tells about his difficult daily life

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The deputy for Charente-Maritime, Raphaël Gérard, affected by the coronavirus in March 2020, spoke on Monday in the National Assembly to discuss the after-effects with which he will have to live until the end of his days.

He was one of the first patients to suffer from Covid-19 and he still carries it today, almost two years later, the after-effects. The deputy of Charente-Maritime, Raphaël Gérard, made an impression on Monday in the National Assembly, while the deputies examined the bill transforming the health pass into a vaccination pass. He wanted to reconnect the Hemicycle to reality and told of his daily ordeal, that of a patient affected by a long covid. “We are talking about a subject which has killed 130,000 people, which has made tens of thousands of people who like me will have to live until the end of their days with the consequences of Covid-19”, he said, standing at the Palais Bourbon. “Today we are talking about how we are doing everything we can to prevent this from happening. We can talk about freedom, we can brandish it in all directions, but freedom is not a set of rights, it is a set of duties and rights. It’s a fair balance between the two. “

Showing the external device of his artificial heart which allows him to stay alive, the fiftieth year old launched to the Assembly: “My freedom today, it is there: it is 30 centimeters of cable and 3 kilos of material that I wears 24 hours a day until the end of my life. This is the reality, it is mine and it is that of tens of thousands of people in this country whose lives have been turned upside down by an epidemic ”.

Twelve days of coma

On March 5, 2020, he felt the first symptoms after a lunch at the refreshment bar of the National Assembly, which was a large cluster in the early hours of the epidemic. The situation deteriorates rapidly for the elected official, aged 51 at the time. Tested positive for the coronavirus on March 10, he was hospitalized two days later in serious condition. He goes through the intensive care unit, with intubation and heavy breathing assistance, followed by a twelve-day coma. He then suffered a heart attack. “Difficult to make the link with the disease, but I think it is linked,” he explained to France Bleu in September 2020, saying he was in good health before being affected by the disease. The coronavirus is in fact a virus that seems to target the weak point of people and exploit it. For me it is the heart, and behind it, it also induces respiratory problems ”.

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Each of your posturing is an insult to the 130,000 people who have died

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“When you look at the people in intensive care, you have a large part – 80% – of unvaccinated people and 20% of people like me who do not want to relive that. I can assure you that at no time do I want to relive that and that every time I go out in the street that I take transport, that I take the train, I do not ask myself whether I can eat peanuts or not, I ask myself whether I will get out of this train safe and sound or if I will go back to the same hell, ”he explained to the deputies, warmly applauded. “This is the reality and this is what must be highlighted. You can gesticulate, you can keep gesticulating all night long, but your every gesticulation is an insult to the 130,000 people who have died. Each of your vociferations and your exaggerations is a punch in the stomach to people like me who have to live with it ”.

Tuesday on the antenna of BFMTV, he again mentioned his “artificial heart under the arm, slung”, symbol of his long covid. At night, it is “connected to an electrical outlet that is about three meters long.”

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