WINDSOR, ONT. -- Greg Prymack used to consider himself a healthy person.
“My wife and I would walk 5k every night. We joined the gym. I was doing the treadmill. Just out of the blue I started losing...like I got fatigued so easily,” Prymack told CTV News.
The 61-year old says he'd lose his breath going up or down a flight of stairs. Lose his breath walking from one end of the building at work to the other.
“I'd been taken to the hospital by ambulance because my breathing was so erratic,” Prymack said.
Between March and December of last year Prymack had three hospital stays and was tested for COVID-19.
“I've had four tests. All negative,” he says.
After researching online Prymack discovered long haulers around the world who were experiencing the same symptoms.
He joined a case study called Can Cov through Toronto General Hospital earlier this year.
“When I got hooked up with this study in Toronto my heart doctor said 'let's hold off and find out what they find your heart's fine and so are your lungs. It's gotta be that long haulers,'” Prymack.
“When you are a long hauler and you're still faced and dealing with the side effects from this virus it's pretty nasty,” said June Muir, CEO of the Unemployed Help Centre.
Muir tested positive for COVID-19 last March and is still feeling the after-effects. She still gets short of breath and has chronic fatigue syndrome.
“I'm not that same person and that's what we want to share with people today is that there are long haulers out there that might look like they are fine but really you are experiencing a lot of side effects from the virus,” she said.
There is a push around the world to set up clinics to help treat long haulers. And there is a Canadian support group on Facebook. Windsor Regional Hospital also has support in place on their Facebook page as well.
“What I have now is probably not as bad as other people but is it going to get worse and if you don't know that it plays on your mind all the time,” Prymack says.
