If there’s one harsh reality we’ve learned about Coronavirus in the past few weeks, it’s that no one is exempt—the virus doesn’t care about your race, age or economic status. Mustafa Avci, a New York-based celebrity stylist, is one of the current 300,000-plus positive COVID-19 cases in the United States, and he’s taking to Instagram to share his story and ask others to take executive orders seriously to prevent the spread.
Avci’s Instagram feed is typically filled with glamorous waves, celebrities and his main-stage performances at hair shows. But, on March 29, he shared a different type of photo—one from a hospital bed pleading for prayers as he battled COVID-19, nearly 10 days after he started feeling symptoms.
“I had bad body aches and I lost my ability to taste,” Avci says. “Then I started having high fevers—around 104 degrees—and coughing a lot. The coughing was making it hard for me to breathe, so my wife took me to the ER.”
His hospital experience, needless to say, was frightening. “I felt like no one wanted to be near me,” he says. “I was in so much pain, and not being able to breathe and cough at the same time made me feel like I was going to die. It was hard to process—it still is."
"They gave me an IV and antibiotics, but I don’t really remember the rest,” he says when we asked him about care during his eight-day stay.
Now that he’s home and on the road to recovery, Avci has begun to stress the severity of this virus to the beauty community and others. “This is unlike anything I’ve ever experienced,” he says. “Imagine being weak, unable to breathe and shaking at the same time,” he adds. “I’m feeling grateful to be back with my family, and I’m working hard to stay connected with fellow stylists and everyone else who needs my help to be more aware of this situation.”