Survivors often wracked by emotional scars

Many patients will recover, but some will carry a burden for the rest of their lives. Wang Yuke reports from Hong Kong.

When Sun Jihong became infected with the novel coronavirus, she was convinced she would die.

Instead, the 69-year-old survived after 16 days of treatment at a hospital in Wuhan, Hubei province.

The virus caused coughing, moderate diarrhea and yellowish urine, so Sun called her daughter, a physician. "She rushed home and took me to the hospital for a chest X-ray," Sun said.

The X-ray confirmed she had become infected. The closest hospitals were full because hundreds of people had the virus, but Sun's daughter helped find her a bed.

"I was immediately taken to the intensive care unit, unconscious," Sun said. When she awoke the next day, she felt a little better.

"I lay on the bed. My breathing was labored and I was too weak to move. I was attached to life-support machines with a dozen drip bottles hanging above me. I could feel tears rolling down my cheeks. I never thought I would make it. It was debilitating and intimidating," she said.

"I made my last wishes. I told my daughter where my jewelry was kept and gave her the codes of the locks on my safe-deposit boxes. I lost count of how many times I cried. I thought about my beloved grandson, who lived with me. I thought about my sick husband, whose right side has been paralyzed for over 21 years after a cerebral hemorrhage. He depends on me, but I felt I was leaving him."