It’s been 22 days since Marco Reyes Rojas started experiencing monkeypox symptoms.
“I had a fever for at least four days. It was from 101 to almost 104. I rushed to urgent care twice,” Reyes Rojas said.
At first, he said, he noticed just a few bumps, but the symptoms quickly worsened.
That’s when he got the news.
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“I had huge rash on my back. I had some on my neck – on the back of my neck, the back of my head, my fingers, my face, my legs. That’s when everything came to reality, and everything pointed to ‘you have monkeypox,’” he said.
Reyes Rojas, 30, has been quarantining at his apartment since then. He said he's been unable to work, and has had to rely on financial help from friends.
“Having to go out of work for more than two weeks, that’s a privilege not everybody has and also not everybody has a support system from your employer that would guarantee you to be able to stay home and heal,” Reyes Rojas said.
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He said he’s unsure when or how he got infected.
Reyes Rojas said the lesions on his body were extremely painful, but they are beginning to dry up and fall off.
“I’m pretty drained. It’s been exhausting having to navigate this on [my] own,” he said.
Reyes Rojas said he hopes people will take the disease seriously and protect themselves.
“If they’re able to be vaccinated, please get vaccinated. It’s not a comfortable experience. It’s actually been really rough, and really tough and I just want people to educate themselves more,” he said.
