Mark Pilgrim bounces back – again – after Covid scare

Legendary media personality Mark Pilgrim, pictured, lives to tell the tale of surviving his third life-threatening event – Covid -19 – recently.

Pilgrim has hosted various television and radio shows and has been a DJ on 5FM, 94.7 Highveld Stereo, 94.5 Kfm and Hotfm.

ALSO READ: Mark Pilgrim has developed Covid pneumonia

While in a 15-day isolation period, Pilgrim said he missed his daughters the most, especially because he couldn’t hug them on Father’s Day after contracting the virus.

“When I hugged them again, I tried to be strong and not to cry in front of them, but I did because it could have possibly not happened again,” Pilgrim said.

Despite video-calling his girls every day, Pilgrim said it was simply not the same. Pilgrim has previously survived a heart attack and cancer. He said the scariest part of Covid-19 was how it was going to affect you.

“Are you going to land up in the hospital or is it just a slight sniff? It’s like being on a battlefield and you don’t know who is going to get shot next,” he said. He said isolation was lonely.

“It’s emotional not knowing if you are still going to be here next week and you can’t rest your head on anyone’s shoulders for comfort,” he said.

When Pilgrim suddenly started feeling ill on 9 June, he immediately had himself tested. By nightfall, Pilgrim was burning with fever and tested positive for the virus the following day.

He said yesterday was the first time he could walk about the house without getting out of breath.

“When I went to the kitchen for water or to the loo, it would take me 20 minutes to recover,” Pilgrim said.

Pilgrim said the virus was like a boomerang in that “every time you think you feel better, it hits you again”. Pilgrim is no longer infectious and was reunited with his daughters on Tuesday after being in isolation for more than two weeks.