Dmitriy Stuzhuk (image via Instagram)Dimitriy Stuzhuk, a social media fitness ‘influencer’ with over a million followers on Instagram, has died of COVID-19 after spending months denying the virus even existed.
While he may have been in top physical shape, the 33-year-old sports and healthy living proponent was not able to survive the effects of the coronavirus.
Four days ago, Stuzhuk told his followers in a post that he contracted the disease while traveling in Turkey.
After a few days of body aches, a swollen neck, and a recurring cough, the fitness lifestyle guru returned home to Ukraine where underwent a battery of tests which showed he had tested positive for the coronavirus.
While in the hospital he was given oxygen and additional medications.
He was discharged after 8 days in the hospital, at which point he told his Instagram followers, “I was one who thought that Covid does not exist…until I got sick.”
Accompanied by a photo wearing an oxygen mask, he added, “COVID IS NOT A SHORT-LIVED DISEASE! And it is heavy,” according to Sky News.
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In his post, he described less-than-optimal conditions in his Ukraine hospital, which surprised him, and he promised a future post about “medicine in our country.” But that post wasn’t to be.
His recovery proved to be a brief reprieve as he was rushed back to the hospital with cardiovascular complications due to the virus. His ex-wife, Sofia, shared on her own Instagram account that Stuzhuk was in “grave condition” and “unconscious.”
Shortly thereafter, she announced Stuzhuk’s passing writing, “Only warm memories remain, three beautiful kids and valuable experience.”
As you can see in recent Instagram posts, Stuzhuk appeared to be in peak physical shape.
Ukraine has reported 307,301 cases of COVID-19 in the country resulting in 5,762 deaths.
There have been 39,845,660 cases worldwide with 1,111,957 reported deaths at this writing according to Johns Hopkins University.
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