MESA, AZ — A Valley healthcare worker is opening up to ABC15 about his battle with COVID-19.
For Ricardo Molina, it all started one day back in early March when he wasn't feeling like himself.
"It was something," he explains. "You know your body was fighting something."
He went to get a coronavirus test, but the results were just the beginning.
"Sure enough, two days later, they said, 'you have the virus and stay home and have no contact and try to isolate yourself as best as you can.'"
That wasn't easy for Molina, who lives in Mesa with his husband and two active dogs.
For Molina, COVID-19 mostly involved body aches and headaches, but he says the fever was the worst.
"For me, I had this horrible fever that progressively got worse. I think my lowest was 100 degrees and the highest was 104.8, and that was a little scary."
Molina works at a rehab facility as a physical therapy aide and stayed home for three weeks to recover and make sure he was no longer contagious.
His husband, who was his caretaker, ended up contracting the coronavirus himself, despite the two being very careful. Molina even avoided his two dogs during that time, as a precaution.
For now, Molina's message to others it to be as careful as possible, and realize that we're all in this together.
"Be considerate of others. You don't know what the health is for others out there. It's just being kind to your neighbor. Just protect yourself. Protect others."
