Omara Ohaji, Lagos, Nigeria, Africa

The hardest thing was breathlessness and fast heartbeat. I don’t t think I have ever been in that position before where I lacked enough oxygen to breathe. It was a very strange, unfamiliar  and scary feeling. I was worried my heart was going to stop at anytime. It was beating really fast that I could more of hear it than I could feel it. I don’t think i have heard my heartbeat so clearly before, and it was really scary and confusing. It increased my worries causing me serious anxieties. I was really scared that I could die.

I knew I was on a healing path when I was able to bathe myself. When I couldn’t bathe myself I felt really helpless. I couldn’t stand and couldn’t even move my arm, so my mum helped me. But one day I had to gather courage and tried to stand on my own. I walked to the bathroom to bathe myself and I kept bathing myself even with the pains. My mum was really proud of me.

I no longer feel breathless  when I walk or do stressful tasks. I became very optimistic about my recovery and it gave me so much confidence to start working out, something I couldn’t do because I was always out of air. The body pains felt like i was being hit by a truck. Each day I woke up with excruciating body pains. When I started exercising, I noticed that the pains reduced a lot, so I continued my workouts. Right now I don’t have body pains anymore.