Cyprus lawyer searching for Dutch sailor who helped him beat Covid-19 infection

Distinguished local lawyer Kypros Chrysostomides beat his coronavirus infection after an arduous one-month journey at the Famagusta General Hospital ICU, but said what will stick with him is the memory of his hospital roommate, a young Dutch sailor, whom he hopes to meet again to thank him for the selflessness he showed while Chrysostomides was immobilized by the virus.

Beyond numbers and graphs, the coronavirus pandemic has left us with heartbreaking but also inspiring personal accounts of turbulent personal journeys. One such story belongs to Chrysostomides, who emerged positive for coronavirus in April and whose health severely deteriorated to the point of being bedridden and requiring intensive hospital care for one month.

A week after being admitted into hospital, Chrysostomides found out he had infected his wife with coronavirus, “but thankfully she was asymptomatic and did not require special care,” he told Must magazine.

Without undermining the significance of the care and support received from hospital staff, “without which my fate may have been different,” Chrysostomides said the experience that will remain engraved in his mind was that of the assistance of his roommate.

“When I was transferred by ambulance to Famagusta from the Nicosia General Hospital ICU, I was in really bad shape. I couldn’t move at all. They put me in a room with another coronavirus patient. He was a young Dutch sailor, who was transferred there by helicopter from a vessel with the mediation of the search and rescue services of the Republic of Cyprus,” Chrysostomides said.

The sailor, he went on, was on the path of recovery. Though he was total stranger, Chrysostomides said the Dutch sailor showed him great kindness.

“He helped me during all the days we shared the [hospital] room, with my food, handing me my phone, calling the nurses whenever I needed them,” Chrysostomides said, adding that “in general, his help was immense.”

“If someone reading this knows the whereabouts of this young Dutchman, whose presence saved me, I would very much like to see him again and thank him from the depths of my heart,” Chrysostomides said.

After two consecutive coronavirus tests came back negative, Chrysostomides was finally able to return to his home in Nicosia. “My joy was indescribable, I was extremely touched,” he said.

Chrysostomides said his battle with coronavirus taught him that “in the journey of life, when you find yourself on a hospital bed, intubated, while fellow humans are dying in the beds next to you, you can’t do anything but re-evaluate your priorities.”

“I realized that in the most difficult of times, in addition to physical strength, mental health is also required,” Chrystostomides said, adding that “you realize that there are many things you didn’t get a chance to do, and you secretly vow to go after them if you survive.”