Former Roma and Italy striker Francesco Totti spoke about his experience during his illness with COVID-19.
„I was on the edge, on the verge of death. I was dying, just like my father. I was about to be hospitalized - my blood oxygen saturation had dropped to 87%, and I had also developed severe bronchopneumonia. I spent 21 days with a temperature of 39°C and could not breathe.
Then Professor Zangrillo called me and advised me to sleep on my stomach - this helps to „open“ the lungs. I managed to fight back, but I was very close to the fatal end. It would not be an exaggeration to say that during the COVID-19 pandemic I looked death in the eye“, admitted Totti.
He also revealed the moment when he was on the verge of depression – after giving up football in 2017.
„There was a moment when I was threatened with depression – a heavy, frightening word. I simply could not find meaning in anything anymore. We footballers are people of habit - our lives follow a very structured rhythm. Suddenly an emptiness appeared - I felt like I was alone in the middle of the ocean. I had the feeling that I was suffocating. I was not ready for this moment - suddenly the ground beneath my feet simply collapsed. And my father's death was the end of everything. He was a man of few words – quiet, but strong and instructive. He was present in my life, albeit in his own way - he never gave me a compliment, he never hugged me. But with just one look, we understood each other completely. Even when we had very little, he made sure that I never lacked for anything - he always inspired me with positivity, taught me good manners and respect for others. When he left, I felt like the air had been sucked out of my lungs.
Then I found out that my son Christian had a serious health problem. He played football, but was having difficulty breathing. He went for a check-up and that same evening the doctor called me to say that the tests had shown a small mass near his brain. My breath stopped, my heart stopped – I couldn't make sense of anything. We began a difficult journey of medical consultations and opinions, until it was finally established that the problem was in the so-called “cerebral aqueduct“ (cerebral aqueduct) – a channel through which fluid, vital to the brain, passes. An operation was needed to allow him to play again, but we decided it was better not to touch anything. After all, it was his brain, not some elbow.
Then came the divorce, which the children endured with great difficulty. But that's life - it brings both good and bad things. And we experienced both,“, Totti reflects.