I live in London with my beautiful wife and our four kids aged 12, 9, 5, and 2. My name is Joseph and I’m an engineer by profession.

My family had been very serious with the protocols. We researched and practiced what we thought would prevent anything bad happening to us, especially the kids. I wore a mask to work all the time as a precaution and because I simply didn’t want to take the virus home. Sometime in June 2020, as I was on my way home from work, I found myself feeling exhausted when I normally don’t. I had a bad feeling that I was coming down with a fever and true enough, I ended up with the worst fever I have ever had in my many years of existence, accompanied by the loss of smell and taste. Right there I was certain that I was positive for COVID-19. I immediately told my wife and the first thing we did was make sure I isolated myself from everyone else in the house.

In our knowledge, you have to self-isolate for at least 14 days and oh boy, that was the longest 14 days of my life! We came in prepared for an event like this, but personally, my strength and my wit were tested. There were nights where I had a really hard time sleeping because I couldn’t breathe. To make things worse, I felt like my body was so tired I could barely move.

Aside from the physical symptoms I experienced, it was definitely mental torture not being able to see my family, even though I knew they were in the same house. And there was the added stress of knowing that they were worried sick about me. All this made me feel extremely helpless, anxious, and depressed. I took it one day at a time until I felt well and I was really happy to be reunited with my family. My wife and I are now fully vaccinated and I hope everyone else gets their jabs too. God speed and God bless!