An officer with the Boston Police Department is sharing his story about his battle with COVID-19.
Omar Borges spent about a month in the hospital, most of it in a coma, after contracting the coronavirus.
"I became critically ill fairly quickly," said the 38-year-old officer.
Borges had woken up one morning in March not feeling well, and with coronavirus spreading, he thought he should get checked out.
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He drove himself to the hospital, tested positive and doesn't remember much after that.
"I wasn't prepared for what was coming," he said. "Obviously, I didn't know, it happened so quick."
Borges was intensive care. He was intubated and fighting for his life.
He feels lucky because he survived. One of his fellow officers didn't.
Officer Jose Fontanez was critically ill around the same time and passed away from complications of COVID-19.
"We think about that all the time," said Borges. "We pray for his family and his kids."
Borges works in drug enforcement and says he likely contracted the virus on the job. As a first responder, there's no working from home.
"I'm living proof that COVID's real and COVID can affect people in many different ways," he said. "You can be asymptomatic and have nothing, or you can be critically ill and die."
Borges hasn't returned to the job yet, and he's not sure when he will.
