The boss of an Aberdeen football club who caught coronavirus has admitted he feared he thought was going to die.
Banks o’ Dee chief Brian Winton has spent the last three weeks fighting Covid-19 and is now on the mend, but said the severity of the illness was frightening and at times he questioned whether he would pull through.
The 63-year-old, a platforms manager in the oil and gas industry, started to show symptoms on March 16.
He began to feel increasingly unwell and had persistent cough and fever. He was sent for a test at a private clinic by his employer which confirmed he had contracted the virus.
Mr Winton’s wife, Jennifer, also caught the disease.
He said: “The severity of it is what scares you. Every night for two-and-a-half weeks I was experiencing this severe fever.
“It gets to the stage where you start thinking ‘am I going to get through this?’
“I was fortunate I didn’t have the breathing problems but I had the high temperature and persistent cough and it was relentless day after day after day.
“You start questioning whether you are going to survive it.
“But I’m out the other side of it and I’ve started working from home part-time this week and hopefully on Monday I’ll be back full-time.
“And my wife is starting to improve now as well, which is good.”
Mr Winton lost two stone and spent three weeks bed-bound due to the illness.
He said: “It’s absolutely horrendous and it absolutely floored me.
“On day 12 I phoned 111 and asked what else I should do so they said to keep taking paracetamol and to keep my temperature under control and give it another seven days.
“It took 21 days before I started to feel better again and thankfully my weight has stabilised now.
“It gave me a pretty big shock but thankfully now we are getting back to normal.”
Mr Winton has been unable to pinpoint where or when he may have been infected, although wonders if it may have been on a recent trip to Dubai.
He said he was relieved he has been able to keep from spreading the virus to anyone outwith his household, such as other close family members or those at the football club.
“From my point of view I’m pleased I don’t seem to have passed it on to anyone else,” he said.
“The severity of what I experienced I wouldn’t have liked to have passed that on to anyone.
“Having gone through it I wouldn’t have wanted anyone else to experience it.”
