HOUSTON – The owner of the popular restaurant, The Argentina Cafe Empanada Factory, is a guy typically seen working here alongside his employees and last month he had a scary fight with COVID-19.
Andres Perekalski, is 43 years old, a husband, dad of two, former professional soccer player and admits his good health had him fooled.
“I don’t smoke, I don’t drink, I consider myself a healthy guy,” Perekalski said.
Even though he’s back at his home in Cypress, he will likely be on oxygen for about a month as he continues to fight for better health.
He’s come a long way from his ICU stay when he thought he was dying.
“When they were putting the plasma on me, I thought I was, I was done. To be honest, I think it was my last day. It was horrible, I was in bed crying, I don’t know how to explain the pain because it’s not something like you hurt your arm or your chest or your leg, it’s just your whole body. It was shutting down,” he explained.
He says he thinks he got sick because he refused the vaccine. He says his wife begged him to get it. They worked as essential workers throughout the pandemic at their restaurant but he convinced himself to wait until the end of the year to see what happened to others who got vaccinated because he admits, he believed a lot of rumors.
“You know they say if you get the vaccine, in 20 years you’re gonna die. There’s a new disease that’s going to come to you and your body’s going to shut down and you know it’s a satan vaccine, don’t get it because of devil stuff,” Perekalski repeated.
Working to combat misinformation, has been the biggest challenge during the pandemic, according to David Callender, president and CEO of the Memorial Hermann health system where Perekalski was treated.
“This is primarily a pandemic for the unvaccinated,” Callender said. “The situation is not good, our hospitals are crowded, our emergency rooms are very busy seeing patients who have COVID symptoms.”
Andres plans to get the vaccine but now he has to wait since he’s recently had an infection.