Months after fighting a dangerous battle with COVID-19, Myrine Kakfwi is still fighting.
The Fort Good Hope man became critically ill after testing positive for COVID-19 in December of last year. He spent more than two months in the University of Alberta hospital in Edmonton, where he was in an induced coma for weeks.
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Released from hospital in early March, he’s no longer fighting for survival but fighting to regain the life he used to have.
“I’m more frustrated and angry than anything,” he said over the phone from Edmonton. “I never saw one penny from the Canada Recovery Sickness Benefit. The apartment I’m living in isn’t subsidized. All the resources I need that are supposed to be there aren’t there. I’ve been doing this on my own for three months.”
While originally from Fort Good Hope, Kakfwi moved down to Edmonton about three years ago with plans to pursue carpentry at the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology. He had been doing carpenter apprentice work until his COVID-19 diagnosis.
He returned to the North for one year in 2019, when he hunted and trapped in the bush near Colville Lake. He said that’s the reason why he doesn’t qualify for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit because he earned no income that year.
Uphill battle to recover strength
The 30-year-old’s lung capacity is greatly reduced due to the damage of the three infections he contracted while weakened from COVID-19. One lung collapsed.
He recalls how difficult it was to leave the hospital on March 7, when his uncle came to pick him up.
“I had to take my bags out to the vehicle by myself and that made me feel like I had just run 10 kilometres,” he said.
“The first month I had no energy. I felt hungover. I could barely walk. Even walking down the street I had to work hard to catch my breath.”
Frustrated by his experiences with doctors since his release, he said he is mostly taking it upon myself to recover his physical strength.
“I’m working out these days. Doing push-ups, sit-ups, lifting heavy objects. I’m doing this with no help from the government. The physical activities are from my own determination. I push myself day after day to go farther,” he said.
That’s a far cry from his physical activity of one year ago, when he regularly played hockey, badminton, soccer and volleyball.
Still, he said he’s improving, however slowly.
After he stopped taking antibiotics in April he has been feeling better. He is able to run a little and rides his bike around his neighbourhood.
“I’m noticing progression but there are some days when I feel soreness in my chest when I do exercise.”
He can eat full meals these days. He enjoys the occasional package of dried geese and caribou sent from his parents in the Sahtu region.
He has also made new friends in Edmonton, who he said sometimes bring him food and furniture.
“I barely know them but they’re helping me out,” he said.
As for the future, Kakfwi wouldn’t speculate. He said his dream of becoming of a carpenter is “dead.”
“I don’t know if I will go back to the apprenticeships. I have the option to do out-of-province training but with all of these COVID-19 restrictions I can’t do that. (And) money-wise I’m already broke.”
Taking life one day at a time, Kakfwi said his anger gives him motivation to keep fighting.
“I’m angry at everybody for turning their backs on me and the government for not supporting me. If I give up, they win. If I do it on my own I can tell everybody I did it with just one lung.”