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Covid sceptic begs Australians to get vaccinated after his mum spent nine weeks in ICU with a feeding tube - and now she needs to learn to walk again

A Covid sceptic says his perspective on the virus changed after his mother spent nine weeks in the ICU with a feeding tube - 22 days of which she was in a coma. 

Damian Cassaniti's mother, Tina, from Five Dock in Sydney's inner west regained consciousness in mid-August with doctors telling her she was lucky to be alive. 

The 72-year-old has no recollection of her mammoth fight with the Delta variant of Covid and at first thought she had been paralysed in a car crash when she woke and couldn't feel her arms and legs. 

'My mother is progressing well. She's been in the hospital for nine weeks now, they're looking at another two to three weeks before she can leave,' Mr Cassaniti told Daily Mail Australia.

The grandmother has regained her ability to speak but now must learn to walk again with the help of physiotherapy because her muscles are so diminished. 

'She had her feeding tube removed on Monday and had her first proper meal, so  that's good,' Mr Cassaniti added.

Tina Cassaniti has spent nine weeks in hospital (pictured) after she caught Covid at a party

Tina Cassaniti has spent nine weeks in hospital after she caught Covid at a party 

The retired driving instructor caught the virus three weeks before her first vaccine booking after she attended a birthday party for a teenage relative at the Crossroads Hotel in Casula, Liverpool, on July 23. 

Ms Cassaniti had been very careful not to leave the house for 18 months as she suffers from asthma and was doing her shopping online, but thought Covid had been brought under control.

Despite cases of the Delta variant appearing in the eastern suburbs from mid-June, a lockdown for Greater Sydney was not announced until June 26.

Ms Cassaniti returned a positive Covid test a day later on June 27 and nurses at RPA began monitoring her breathing and heart rate remotely.

When her fever hit 40C she was rushed to hospital and placed in a medically induced coma for 22 days to allow her body to fight the virus. 

When she was woken up from sedation over the course of a week, doctors had to perform a tracheotomy to compensate for her weakened respiratory muscles. 

A relieved Mr Cassaniti, who has been video calling with his mother, said the experience has shaken him to the core and changed his views on the virus. 

'I was sceptical about Covid before but to see with my own eyes, it has changed my whole perspective,' Mr Cassaniti said. 

'Getting vaccinated I wasn't on board with - but once you see a loved one go through that - anything that can provide some sort of shield is good,' he said. 

The retired driving instructor said she had been extremely careful not to leave her house for 18 months until she went to the gathering just before Sydney's Delta outbreak surged

The retired driving instructor said she had been extremely careful not to leave her house for 18 months until she went to the gathering just before Sydney's Delta outbreak surged 

He got his second vaccination jab on Tuesday and urges others to do the same. 

'Don't be blasé, real people get this virus. This is not the flu, think that multiplied by 10, 20, 30. Gasping for air, loss of taste and smell, fever and migraines, constant coughing, it's a lot worse.' 

He is yet to visit the hospital in person and his two young children haven't been able to visit their grandmother because of strict quarantine protocols.  

She is being cared for at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital where only specially trained staff are allowed inside the 'Covid Red' intensive care ward. 

The facility in the shell of a former day surgery unit was built with the help of a team of builders, engineers, infection control experts, nursing and security staff, porters, and anaesthetic and respiratory teams. 

When the 19-bed ward was finished in March there were no patients - but since Sydney's Delta outbreak began staff have been pushed to capacity. 

Mr Cassaniti said the nurses were a 'godsend' in looking after the patients. 

Damian CassanitiTina Cassantiti

Damian Cassaniti said he was previously sceptical but after his mother Tina spent was in a coma for 22 days he wants people to take vaccination seriously 

'Hospitals are packed and staff is limited. The nurses care for patients, do physio, monitor them. They do everything and they're getting overwhelmed. I'd call and sometimes they couldn't pick up because they're so under the pump.' 

Intensive care specialist and ICU co-director at RPA, Dr Richard Totaro, said staff had added pressure because of the contagiousness of the Delta strain. 

'Nurses are absolutely vital... looking after Covid patients is very hard work. You're in layers of PPE, which is hot. It's difficult work, it's physical work,' he said.

He added doctors performing procedures such as intubating - where a breathing tube is inserted in the throat - is often done working in a rush of adrenaline directly over a contagious patient and has a high risk of infection. 

Staff in the ward are assigned a 'buddy' who ensures the other meticulously follows decontamination procedures such as carefully putting on and taking off PPE gear.

Dr Totaro also urged people to get vaccinated saying this would not only protect them from Covid but take pressure off hospital wards.

'There's really good evidence from all over the world that the vaccinations we have available, that once people are vaccinated the hospitalisations go away, the need for ICU goes away, and the death goes away,' he said. 

Prime Minister Scott Morrison on Tuesday announced 500,000 more Pfizer doses have been secure from Singapore with the Australian government to send the amount to them in December. 

'That means there are 500,000 doses extra that will happen in September that otherwise would have have been several months,' Mr Morrison said.

Mr Cassaniti (pictured) got his second Covid vaccination on Tuesday

Mr Cassaniti got his second Covid vaccination on Tuesday 

He added the shipment would be additional to 4.5million doses of Pfizer and 1million Moderna shots scheduled to arrive in September.

Australia is aiming for a vaccination rate of 70 to 80 per cent of the population aged over 16 fully jabbed.

In addition to AstraZeneca and Pfizer vaccines, bookings for the Moderna vaccine have been approved by the Therapeutic Goods Administration and are available from September 13. 

While the protection levels of Pfizer and AstraZeneca have been shown to slowly diminish requiring booster jabs, the Moderna variant has been shown to maintain strong protection against Covid of 90 per cent at the six month point. 

Australia currently has an agreement to obtain 10million Moderna vaccines and a further 15million Moderna booster vaccines. 

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