There is an arrogance that comes with youth. It’s a feeling that you are invincible. Many of us feel this now with coronavirus; that because we are young, we are untouchable. I was part of this school of thought, too. I once believed my body could handle all the recklessness I made it endure because nothing ever happened to people in their 20s.

Within a working week, it wouldn’t be uncommon for me to knock out multiple group dinners, a couple of industry parties and a spontaneous 3am-er on a Thursday. Layer into that my many trips abroad, lack of a sensible diet, sleep deprivation and minimal exercise. While I was having the time of my life, my family and friends were correctly worried about my wellbeing. Naturally, I told them all to stop being such bores and that I was totally fine. After all, I was 28 and invincible.

Until Christmas came and, for the very first time that year, I slowed down. By Boxing Day, I had a fever and a bad cough, which two doctors dismissed as simply the rumblings of a chest infection. Five days later, I was being carted off in an ambulance to hospital with full-blown pneumonia and oxygen levels so low my organs were teetering on the edge of shutting down completely. (For context: normal oxygen saturation levels are between 97%-100%, and my persistent attempts at invincibility had mine at a precarious 38%.)

Billie Bhatia: “Thank you to the nurses who saved my life”