This winter, Point Loma entrepreneur Tim S. Callan, his wife Jacqueline, and 4-year-old daughter Lily went skiing with a group of friends in Wyoming that included an emergency room doctor.
Shortly thereafter in early March, Tim and Jacqueline both showed symptoms and subsequently tested positive for coronavirus. Lily ended up with it too.
Fortunately for all three, their symptoms turned out to be relatively mild lasting only about a week, a couple of days only for Lily.
“I woke up after a few days with a mild fever and one of my friends who was there complained he wasn’t feeling well, and another guy was laid out,” said Callan, a financial planner with Callan Capital. Noting it usually takes four or five days from virus exposure to symptoms developing. Callan added, “The doctor, the original carrier, had also tested positive.”
Callan added: “I had a fever up to 100 degrees for seven days in a row. I felt lethargic, lacking energy. I didn’t have much in my chest. My wife had a little bit of a dry cough.”
“Our smell and taste changed,” continued Callan. “I had sort of a metallic smell that then went away. We never sought medical attention.
“We were terrified,” confessed Callan of the experience, pointing out another person in their ski party hadn’t been as fortunate, coming down with a 102-degree fever post-exposure.
“Seven days after symptoms I was pretty much fully recovered,” said Callan, pointing out coronavirus lasted longer than the flu he’d had previously. He had actually felt sicker with the flu, though it only lasted about half as long.
Afterward, Callan realized there was a silver lining. Since recovering from Covid 19, he has been donating his convalescent plasma to help others overcome the virus.
“I understand it (plasma) has even helped get some people out of the Intensive Care Unit, including people on ventilators doctors didn’t think would make it, and it saved their lives,” Callan said. “The antibodies in plasma can help people fight this thing off.”
Callan added demand for blood plasma with antibodies from recovered donors is in such great demand, it’s now being overnighted from donors to recipients nationwide.
Asked what he’s learned from the experience, Callan concluded, “I encourage people that have had it (virus) to not be so secretive about it. “You probably know other people who’ve had it. They just haven’t told you. People should feel free to disclose it. And donate plasma, because the demand far outstrips the supply, and a lot of people are dying.”
PEERS Network was established in 2009 to bring entrepreneurs and executives from across a variety of industries together with a common goal: to give back.
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