A self-confessed conspiracy theorist anti-vaxxer who was left fighting for life in hospital with Covid has begged other Australians to take the virus seriously and get vaccinated.
Sydney mother-of-three Amanda Gulasi, 42, is now filled with regret over not taking the virus seriously enough, which she now describes as a potential death sentence.
Admitting she believed ‘every conspiracy theory’ about the virus and thought it was ‘just another flu’ until she was admitted to hospital last week after her condition deteriorated.
She spent several hours filming harrowing footage from her hospital bed in a Covid ward as she issued a passionate plea urging everyone to get vaccinated.
Now recovering at home in Sydney’s south-west, Ms Gulasi is still struggling with the virus as she opened up on the lifechanging wake-up call which has overhauled her concerns about the vaccine.
Amanda Gulasi (pictured) spent several hours in a hospital Covid ward last week – having previously thought the virus was nothing more than a type of flu
‘It’s just not worth going through just for a few side effects,’ she told A Current Affair while struggling to breathe.
‘This is a side effect of not being vaccinated.
‘I would hate to be someone who’s elderly or somebody who is at risk and be feeling the way I feel.’
She described Covid as ‘not pleasant in her video from hospital.
‘Vaccinate people, vaccinate. No, seriously, it’s not fun,’ she said.
She among 16,866 cases currently battling Covid across NSW as the state recorded 1290 new cases on Monday.
Eighty per cent of the latest cases came from Sydney’s west and south-west.
The normally healthy 42-year-old has been knocked to the ground by the virus which she says has a mind of its own and wouldn’t wish on her worst enemy.
‘This is nothing like any flu,’ Ms Gulasi added.
‘Instead of getting better as days go by, you seem to get worse. The symptoms chop and change.
‘It’s so hard to explain until you’ve experienced it.
The disability support worker (pictured) now urges everyone to get vaccinated after suffering horrific symptoms
The disability support worker could have been among the first in Australia to get the jab but had concerns about the vaccine.
‘At the start of COVID, I was completely on the side of the conspiracy theorists,’ she admitted.
‘Every conspiracy that came out, I was believing in it.’
‘This time with Delta I thought, OK, maybe there is something to but I definitely believe it now. It is real and it will kill you.’
Ms Gulasi still doesn’t know how she contracted the virus but lives in the Covid-ravaged Canterbury-Bankstown local government area.
She opted to stop working during lockdown, partly due to the strict rule of being tested every three days, which is no longer a requirement due to mounting pressure on the health system.
Amanda Gulasi (pictured) vaccinated her kids but previously has concerns about the Covid jab
Amanda Gulasi (pictured) believed Covid wasn’t real and ‘just another flu’ until she was struck down with the virus last week
‘I was just a bit hesitant with how fast these vaccines were produced and the scare tactics the government used to make us vaccinate, such as withholding our freedoms,’ Ms Gulasi said.
Around 87 per cent of the 137 NSW cases currently fighting for life in intensive care are completely unvaccinated, with only one person having received both jabs.
Ms Gulasi now wishes she’d listened to the warnings about Covid as she issued a desperate plea to Covid deniers who refuse to roll up their sleeves.
‘If you don’t believe it, then just stay inside. Spread your anti-vax message from inside your home,’ she said
‘Pray that it doesn’t happen to you and pray it doesn’t happen to your family. It’s a possible death sentence.’
The Greenacre mother of three (pictured) now regrets not taking Covid seriously and believing it wasn’t rule
Young single mum Ramona (pictured,left) said the mental anguish is equally as debilitating as the physical aspects of the gruelling disease, while construction worker Fawaz, 50, (right) is seen lying face-down barely able to speak in his hospital bed – as he begged Australians to get vaccinated
She joins a sea of people infected with Covid who have begged other Australians to go and get vaccinated.
Gasping for breath, alone and terrified, brave patients at Sydney’s Concord Hospital have begged Australians to take the virus seriously, declaring ‘it’s not a game’.
In a series of emotional bedside interviews, a young single mother, a devastated tradie and a construction worker who infected his entire family, including his six children, pleaded with the nation to get vaccinated.
Construction worker Fawaz, 50, is seen lying face-down barely able to speak in his hospital bed.
‘Today I am really bad: my fever, my headache, my breathing,’ he said.
The dad, from Putney in Sydney’s north, still has no idea how he contracted the virus which has now spread to his entire immediate family – including his six children.
At the time the video was shot one of his daughters had also been rushed to hospital because her condition was rapidly deteriorating.
‘She’s getting dizzy, her heart rate is too high and she is finding it hard to breathe,’ he said.
‘So please get vaccinated. I wish I knew beforehand… It’s not a game, it’s for real.’
Fawaz had been booked in to get the Pfizer jab for October, before being struck down before the appointment.
Single mother Ramona, 30, who needs the assistance of breathing tubes, had received her first dose of the vaccine but is thought to have contracted the crippling respiratory virus while working at a pharmacy in Greenacre, in Sydney’s southwest.
She said the community needs to ‘wake and realise this is real’.
‘You end up in hospital and you can’t breathe,’ she said fighting back tears.
‘All I can think about is my children. I haven’t seen them in a very long time.
‘I’m an essential worker. I could have contracted the virus from someone who didn’t want to get the vaccination.’