Jeremih 'Had to Learn How to Walk Again' During COVID-19 Recovery: 'That's How Messed Up It Was'
Raymond Boyd/Getty Images Jeremih
Jeremih is opening up about his harrowing experience with coronavirus (COVID-19).
The 33-year-old singer spoke about his COVID-19 diagnosis and his subsequent monthlong recovery from the novel virus during an appearance on Sway In The Morning on Tuesday.
"What I can say is: man, it definitely is real," he said of the respiratory virus. "I didn't take it for granted."
"And truth be told ... I'm a living, walking testimony," he continued, before speaking about his hospitalization. "I was really down bad for the last month and a half while I was in there. You know, I don't even remember the day I went in. That's how messed up it was."
Scott Dudelson/Getty Images Jeremih
Jeremih went on to describe his experience in the hospital. Though he initially couldn't remember much from his time in the intensive care unit, Jeremih said that his mother had taken photos from his hospital bed to show the devastation of the disease.
"I had the tube down my throat for about a week and a half," he said. "I was really, like, in a dream. And I ain’t gonna lie, I woke up about two times and all I remember is just seeing a white light."
The "Birthday Sex" artist revealed that he was also diagnosed with multisystem inflammatory syndrome, a condition he said was "a rare case of cause and effect of COVID."
"All my organs became inflamed," Jeremih recalled. "My heart went out, stopped beating and started beating irregularly. My kidneys went out. My liver started ... to go bad."
"Mind you, I didn't know what was going on at the time. I was out," he added.
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Once his condition stabilized and he was moved out of the ICU, Jeremih said he had to re-learn how to perform basic functions as part of his recovery.
"I had to learn how to walk again, eat, all that stuff," he said, adding that he had "never been to a hospital" in his life prior to his experience with COVID-19.
"I look at it as kind of somewhat of a blessing now, as crazy as it might sound," Jeremih said. "I needed to sit down."
News of Jeremih's hospitalization first broke in mid-November when TMZ reported that he had been placed on a ventilator while seeking treatment for COVID-19.
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Jeremih's family confirmed on Nov. 21 that the star was transferred out of the ICU.
He was discharged from the Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago in early December.
"THANK GOD IM STILL HERE," Jeremih captioned an Instagram following his release, which featured before-and-after photos from his time in the hospital to his recovery. "THANK YA’LL FOR THE ???? UP #imbackkkk."
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