BRISTOL, Va. – An unvaccinated Bristol man who once felt ‘invincible’ in the face of COVID-19 is now using social media to urge people to get vaccinated against the coronavirus, NBC News reports.
This comes after 43-year-old Travis Campbell tested positive for COVID-19 on July 22. It wasn’t long before his symptoms worsened and he had to be taken to the hospital, according to his wife, Kellie Campbell.
He has now been hospitalized for over a week and his wife fears that he will need to be placed on a ventilator to help with his breathing.
“I mean, he couldn’t catch his breath ... had a fever, just lethargic, he ached, just one thing after another,” she told NBC News. “He started in a regular room, and then he went to a COVID ICU room, and now he’s in the pulmonary ICU.”
During his stay, he has been using Facebook to push others to get the shot, warning them of the seriousness of the coronavirus. His wife and two kids have been infected with the coronavirus as well.
“I’m testifying to all my bulletproof friends that are holding out, it’s time to protect your family, it’s not worth getting long term lung damage or death please go get the vaccine,” he wrote in a July 25 Facebook post. “When I hear my kids with the rattle lung cough, when they say they are so dizzy they are getting sick, or they or I are dehydrated from the diarrhea, I realize I could have prevented this.”
I have never been this sick in my life!! My whole family has covid, i truly regret not getting the vaccine. Im...
Posted by Travis Campbell on Sunday, July 25, 2021
On Tuesday night, he posted a video from his hospital bed:
“I’m fighting for every breath. Life is just the big picture. You gotta try to take every breath without having anxiety, breakdowns. I just want you to know to just please, please, please listen to what I’m trying to tell you. If you think you need the vaccine, go get it,” he said in a second Facebook video on Wednesday.
In his most recent video, he is speaking much slower as he struggles for his every breath.
Kellie said that more than anything, he just wants to prevent people from going through what he is.
“We just thought we were invincible and we weren’t going to get it,” she said. “And we’ve just been so busy, and we just moved, and we prolonged getting the vaccine.”
She went on to add that getting a COVID-19 vaccine should be a top priority, not just for you, but for your family.
“If you have to take time off work, if you have to miss out on something, you need to go get the vaccine, because we didn’t, and look where we are now,” she said.