Episode details
Available for over a year
Seeking peace of mind before celebrating the Thanksgiving holiday, Riley Behrens had a Covid-19 test because he wanted to travel to see his parents. To his surprise, the test returned a positive result and Riley quickly began to experience symptoms, including breathing difficulties and dizziness. He went on to suffer a suspected TIA (a transient ischaemic attack or "mini stroke"), which doctors suspect was caused by the virus. Prior to contracting Covid-19, he was a healthy athletic rugby-player with no underlying health conditions, yet he continues to feel the effects of the virus and is still taking blood thinners and steroids. Riley is keen that young people who may not think they will catch the virus - or think that if they do, they won't experience serious symptoms - take the threat of Covid-19 seriously. "People need to start taking this seriously before more people get sick," he says. "I think more young people need to wear masks and social distance and not go to bars... You can be asymptomatic and yet still test positive." Photo and credit: Riley Behrens undergoing treatment in hospital for Covid-19
Programme Website