This Chinese Actress’ 78-Year-Old Grandaunt Reveals How She Battled And Recovered From COVID-19

You may not know Chinese actress Tang Yifei, 38, but you will remember this story she has to share. Yifei, who hails from Wuhan, revealed on a talkshow last week (Feb 10) that she had three relatives in the city who were diagnosed with COVID-19.

Luckily, they have all since recovered. On Tuesday (Feb 18), the actress took to her Weibo to share the contents of a handwritten thank-you letter her 78-year-old grandaunt had written to the staff of the hospital she was warded at.

In her caption, Yifei shared that she had first received a call from her grandaunt at six in the morning on Sunday (Feb 16). And the first words her grandaunt said? “I’ve managed to crawl out from under death itself”.

Yifei then went on to reveal that her grandaunt had wanted to read out the letter she had written to the hospital staff. However, after hearing her grandaunt’s raspy voice, the actress asked her to send a picture of the letter instead.

The contents of the letter, which took up four A4-sized papers, revealed that Yifei’s grandaunt, Xiaohui, had fallen ill on January 24. However, the first three hospitals she had visited were all full. After 12 hours of driving from hospital to hospital, Xiaohui, as well as her daughter and son-in-law, decided to return home instead.

Xiaohui was only admitted to Jiangxia Hospital of Traditional Chinese Medicine the next evening.

“Since then, I’ve been separated from my family, just like yin and yang. [Even those who had been diagnosed with COVID-19] had gone to other hospitals,” she wrote.

She then recalled feeling listless and weak while lying in bed at the hospital. “The feeling of being at death’s door left me breathless, my chest felt as if there was a thousand kilogram weight pressing on it. I couldn’t even tell if I was inhaling or exhaling”.

However, through the haze of her sickness, Xiaohui recalled hearing the nurses constantly calling her name, and eventually inserting an oxygen tube to aid her breathing.

Soon after, the hospital began administering treatment for her. Despite suffering from a high fever for the first five days, Xiaohui refused to give up, and her fever finally subsided on the sixth day.

The nurse even told me, “You're the oldest patient here, and COVID-19 has hit you terribly. But you’re the bravest, and your condition improved the quickest,” she wrote, adding that she “felt weightless, as if [she] could fly”.

At the hospital, she was also served meals that were prepared by a nutritionist. Xiaohui attributed the meals for her speedy recovery, writing that she now understands “the true value of nutritionists .

She also extended her gratitude to all frontline medical workers.

“They're the bravest frontline soldiers, the saving grace of us citizens, the ones who rescued us,” she wrote, before going on to encourage those who are still infected with COVID-19.

“The sun will always appear, after rain and turmoil. The day where we can all reunite as a family will not be too far away,” she wrote.

Photos: PBE Media, Tang Yifei/Weibo, Ling Xiaosu/Weibo