 I'm Rusty Komori, and this is Beyond the Lines on Think Tech, Hawaii. I was the head coach of the Punahou Boys varsity tennis team for 22 years, and we were fortunate to win 22 consecutive state championships. This show is based on my books Beyond the Lines and Beyond the Game, which many people find inspiring and motivating, and helps you keep the right mindset in dealing with life's challenges. My special guest today is a COVID-19 survivor who was close to death in the hospital, and he'll share his personal experiences with us, and sadly, he's still feeling various after effects. He is George Ma, and today we are going Beyond Courage. Hey, George. Welcome to the show. Hey, Rusty. Thank you for having me on your show. George. Before we get into the COVID-19 situations, can you tell me a bit about your background growing up in Hawaii? Oh, I'm a local boy born and raised in downtown Honolulu. Chinese family, parents had a Chinese restaurant, so typical. There's four of us, four siblings, I'm the youngest. The most rotten one out of the four, you see, I got into a lot of trouble, I was into just the typical things like skateboarding, like every local boy here. I competed in body surfing back in the days, total foodie. So that's pretty much what I do. And what schools did you go to? I went to all public schools, I grew up in an Iliha area, so I went to Kau Luala, then we moved to Kauana, and I went to Roosevelt. George, I know you are all about fitness, I mean, you're like the fitness king. In fact, you're the founder of lifestyle fitness training. Can you tell me about what kind of competitions you had entered in the past? Oh, in my past I entered, I got into bodybuilding. So I competed in the Paradise Cup, I placed in that, I heavily into jujitsu, and I placed in Naga, which is like a national jujitsu grappling championship here in Honolulu. And actually now I work with people battling Parkinson's disease, and I was selected out of four trainers in the US last year to train at Parkinson's retreat. So that was very rewarding. I like hearing that you're helping people with Parkinson's and really training them and helping them live a healthier lifestyle. Let's get into the COVID-19 situations, George. So why did you end up getting tested for COVID-19? I started on the 4th of July weekend, actually, or that week of the 4th, which I would never forget. That Monday I went to a gym, one of my friend's gyms, and I worked out, did my own personal workout, and then on Thursday the owner of the gym gave me a call and said that I should get tested for COVID-19 because one of their staff members tested positive, which I did. It took about two days, and I got my test results and I was positive. So that's the reason why I got tested. So how did you really, I mean how did you get it? Was it at the gym? Yeah, so at that time it was still really early in the virus, and we didn't know much about it. And the state mandate was that we were able to go to the gym, do our workouts, take classes, and take off our mask, which I did for one hour. And that was such a hard lesson to learn because now we know that it's viral, it was in the air. So that's something that now I'll always keep my mask on. I wear protective eyewear, but then that was just a hard lesson to learn. It was my fault. I could have kept my mask on, but at that time, like you said, at that time it was still early. I was part of the first cluster. So George, so you went to Straub Hospital. Tell me how bad it was with this dealing with the COVID-19 for you. For me, dealing with COVID-19, it started at home. I battled it for nine days at home. It started with me just feeling just tired, and I was having allergies basically. So I took my claritin, thinking it was allergies. And then I started with a dry cough, and then my chest got really tight. Then from there, I started getting a fever that I couldn't break. And that was the first signs for me of COVID. I fought it for about nine days at home and to the point where I said, you know, I can't do it anymore. My blood oxygen levels, which usually should be at 100% reading. It came down to about 70%. That's when I knew that I had to go to the hospital. And when I got to the hospital, I was near death. Basically, any nurses and the doctors said if my blood oxygen levels were read under 70, my organs would have shipped down. I would have got into a cardiac arrest. So this medical staff at Straub, they saved my life. George, tell me how bad it was during those first two days in the hospital in terms of breathing. The first day, I always say I call COVID the beast. It comes in at night, and it comes with this coughing spasm. But with these coughing spasm, you get muscle cramps, everything you can think of, your fever, you know, you're in and out because you're all drugged up from your cough medication. And it feels like you're drowning. So that's the worst feeling. I remember using the PVE oxygen that was just against my nose. I was shoving it against my nose, just trying to breathe. And the first night, those boats would go on for hours. And I would ask the nurse to just let me fight this virus because I knew that if I went on a ventilator, it would be bad news for me. And it would take me a long time to recover. So the first night I got through it, I had no idea it was going to come again on a second night. And it came again at me on a second night. And that's when my body was extremely exhausted. I just wanted to give up. And I just needed to find purpose. And my purpose was my partner, my family, and my Parkinson's family to help pull me through. And that gave me the fight for the second night. But at the end of the day, you're just suffocating. You just can't breathe. And it's your decision if you want to fight it or give up. So I'm lucky that I have Parkinson's training in my back pocket. So a lot of the symptoms is something that I train my clients with, not knowing that at the same time, I needed that same training to save my own life. Wow. So you could have easily just given up and died, basically. It's a choice that you made to actually fight it. It was a choice. And I was very fortunate to have the nurse watch over me at that time. It was still early in the virus. So the beds wasn't completely full yet. The hospital wasn't completely full yet. And I thank him for watching my oxygen levels. And I made the choice to fight for those two nights. Most of my friends that are survivors, they ended up in a coma. So to share this story with you, it's kind of fascinating because there's not too many people that actually that I know that was up actually fighting it for two days. That was conscious. So George, what type of therapeutics that your doctors prescribed for you? So right now, the therapy that we have, there's not much for COVID right now. They're still battling on the front lines. So I'm going back to my Parkinson's training and my therapy training that I do with my clients. And I'm following those protocols where I'm working with a cardiologist, a pomologist. And basically, this therapy journey, I'm still trying to find a path or working towards it. And while you were in the hospital, which medications worked for you? I actually was lucky that I qualified because of my health and my age. I had a triple crown combo of antivirals. One was Renditvir. Another one was an anti-inflammatory steroid. And I was fortunate enough to get convalescent plasma. Those three brought me back to life, I believe. Wow. And George, I know you know about my books. And in my books, there's a part where I talk about welcoming adversity, looking forward to challenges, and really having the right mindset and the right perspective in dealing with life's challenges. And that's really what it sounds like you have to do as well. Yes. Being comfortable in an uncomfortable situation. So the two nights when I was fighting, I had to be able to calm my body down, mentally just focused on my breathing, not let anything else bother me and just stay focused and think about it. I guess I don't know how to lose, so think about winning. And winning for me was just to not be on the ventilator and to stay alive. George, it was so admirable. It was so courageous of you because while you were in the hospital, you posted videos on Facebook about what you were dealing with at that time. And I know it really was eye-opening to so many people, including myself. I mean, was that a tough decision for you to do that? At first, I did it for my friends. So I had about 400 Facebook friends. And then why I really pressed that send button was because during the time at the hospital, I had the only thing I had with me because with this virus, you fight alone. I had my phone. So I was scrolling to social media. And at that time, people were on social media were saying that this virus, it was a flu, it's fake news. And I just kind of got irritated. And then I just pressed and I gave me more courage to press send, which I did. And then I woke up the following day. And within, I think, 48 hours, it went viral. And then that's when I honestly, then that's when I kind of got nervous. But then I saw all the love and strength and people sending me positive comments that kept me going. And actually, it was a great form of therapy because the power of prayer gave me the strength to fight daily because when I was in a hospital on day three, as I healthy, I always been healthy. I could barely even comb my hair. I was using a walker. Wow. Hey, George, prayers definitely help. And I know that once you recovered from COVID, from being in the hospital, you have all these after effects. Can you tell me what type of situations you're dealing with right now? Yeah. So a lot of people, they think that like any flu, this is not a flu, this is a virus. This is a very strong virus that like a flu, once it's over, it's over. And it's not. You don't just check out at a hospital and it's done. Everyone's symptoms are different. For me, I'm not 100% yet. I battle with chronic fatigue. I still have shortness of breath, inability to recover while I'm exercising, which I love to do, difficulty sleeping. We have what they call COVID fog, which is concentrating and staying focused. And the last thing probably, I do have a resting tremor in my right hand, which I never had any of these problems before. And the sad thing is that the doctors, they can't tell me when it's going to go away. So I'm just dealing with daily. So George, tell me more about the tremors in your right hand. I mean, how bad is it right now? It's got a resting tremor. So more so when I'm at rest, the tremor act up a little more. So as I say, if I'm writing, it's not that I can't write, but I kind of lose my balance. So I've been working on my therapy, working on my writing, working on my hands, my disparity on my fingers, getting that moving. I'm working with a chiropractor. This is me. Maybe he can help adjust me. Maybe it might be on certain nerves. So I'm trying that route. I'm trying anything. I'm open to try anything to get better. Now, you also did an MRI. Why did you do an MRI? With this resting tremor, I saw a neurologist. And they actually tested me for Parkinson's disease. It came out negative. So because I had these neurological problems, there was just another way to kind of see what was going on. And at the same time, when these doctors are done fighting on the front line with COVID, they have a COVID brain that they can study. So yeah, I kind of did it for science, too. That's good. And George, what happened when you wanted to donate plasma? Oh, wow. That was crazy. When I was in the hospital, the nurse, we would always try to find the positive. And the positive was that I was able to donate plasma and help save other lives. And what a great way to kind of give back because they helped me. And plasma did help save my life. So when I got better, I actually counted the days. I caught the blood bank. And with that, what happened was that I qualified to give plasma. But they did a phone interview. And during a phone interview, I was talking about my partner and my sexuality. And then everything kind of went to kind of silent. Like, you got the sign. And the person on the other line said that they won't be able to take my plasma because of my sexuality. So that kind of just blew my mind. It's just so backwards thinking. So I wasn't able to give plasma because of my sexuality. Well, and here you are. I mean, plasma really saved you, you said. And you wanted to pay it forward and to really help other people. But maybe they might have to look into that kind of rule because it seems like it's an outdated rule. Yeah, it's outdated rule. Secure orientation. It goes back to the days when HIV and AIDS. So I think they just passed laws for us to give blood. But then there's still a lot of rules that come along with it for the LGBTQ community. We're still fighting for those rights to be able to donate blood, and especially plasma now, which is so needed. George, the nurses and doctors, tell me your thoughts about the nurses and doctors. The nurses and doctors, I call them angels. And when they would come into my room, I would say to them, they're doing God's work. And because they are, they'll be taking care of, their family will be taking care of later. Because a lot of times, at that time, a lot of the nurses I found out, they volunteered to work in that COVID unit, which really touched my heart. I'm like, wow, that's such a risk. Why would you want to work in this unit? And there's a lot of sacrifice for them to work there. Because with the PPEs that they got aware, each time they would come into my room, they would have to change into new PPEs. And I think one day I counted 25 times throughout the day they came into my room. They had to take off and change into new gowns and gloves. So it's so stressful. So I try not to bother them that much, because I know they're really busy. So George, people think this only affects senior citizens with certain conditions that they might be dealing with. But you're a young guy with, and super physically fit, as we saw in those pictures, what is your advice to everyone out there knowing that COVID-19 is still the same now as it was months ago? I think what I would say is COVID is not a joke. It does not discriminate. Look at me, it almost killed me. So I would want people to, it sounds like I'm repeating myself, but it's needed. Mask up. Wear protective eyewear. No social gatherings. Wear gloves if you have them. And especially if you are tested positive, and during those 14 days, have somebody monitor you daily, especially if you have a fever and check your blood oxygen level, which is key to saving your life. So George, going through these major adversities, these big challenges that you dealt with, what is your biggest fear now in life? My biggest fear now, the unknowns of COVID, of the symptoms that's coming at me, not knowing if I'm able to work eight-hour days anymore, not knowing when these symptoms are going to go away. That's having this chronic disease, it scares me. But I try not to think about it daily. I try to just think about what's going on within the day, I mean within the hour, and then try to just celebrate the winds, because I still do have bad days and I'm having a lot more better days now, but I just need to celebrate the good days. So George, being close to death like you were, I mean, I can't imagine feeling like you can't breathe because you're feeling like you're drowning. But going through that experience and then looking back now, what do you feel is most important in life? First, I think I'm just a blessed person to be alive, to be alive and to have people in my life that cares about me, like my family, my partner, was amazing, I was just having even strangers at that time on social media so important to me, and I show me love. So I try to start a little things now in life. I try not to sweat over my business too much and how many clients I need to have, and just breathe actually, and just breathe and just enjoy the hour and the minutes that I have during that day. Yeah, really looking at the big picture and not really sweating the small stuff, right, George? Yeah, I was a guy that, I'm a planner. Even with my friends, and when we do trips, I plan everything up from the minute to the hour. I was that guy. And now looking back at it in the hospital room, it's just finding what's enough. And now I think with that, I know what I need and what's enough in life for me. And it took me laying in the hospital and almost dying to figure that out. So with this new perspective, like a different perspective on life now, what are some of your future goals? What are some things that you want to accomplish? I still want to accomplish working in my Parkinson's family. I want to keep working with them, maybe come up with a therapy program for what we call long haulers, people, survivors of COVID-19, figuring out a therapy program for them. That's something that we'd love to do. And trying not to go past that, because then that's what gets me back to where I used to be, getting my anxieties up and getting panic attacks. So George, why is you helping Parkinson's patients? Why is that such a big passion of yours? My dad had Parkinson's. He passed away about two years ago. And during that time, I was trying to find a therapy program for him. And I couldn't find anything that was, I wanted to say everything was pretty dated. And because I specialized in fitness and I do a lot of therapy work. And actually, I started when I first started training 20 years ago. My specialty was senior fitness. So I've been around chronic illness and movement disorders my whole life. And I knew that if I put some work into it, I could come up with a program for my dad. But it was this, which now I do have, but it was just a little too late. So that's the reason why Parkinson's is very near and dear to my heart. Yeah, I got it. And George, I know that you also teach Muay Thai kickboxing. And that has so many benefits for people. Can you tell me about what benefits Muay Thai kickboxing does? Oh, yeah. So Muay Thai kickboxing. When I first started Muay Thai kickboxing, I came from a bodybuilding background. So it's all show, no go, sorry to my bodybuilder friends. But I was really tight at zero flexibility, had hardly any cardio or conditioning. Back then, there wasn't anything like CrossFit. It was just strictly old school bodybuilding. And then I got into kickboxing. And I'm a guy that hates to stretch. So my balance was bad. And just learning a skill set like kickboxing, not realizing at the same time as I'm learning this self defense sport, I was gaining flexibility, balance. And that's exactly what I use for my clients to. I always say it's just like a cooler way of stretching out your limbs. Because Muay Thai is called the art of eight limbs, right? And then at the same time, it's like all in one. To me, I think for conditioning, that's probably one of the best sports you can do to get conditioned. And you don't have to be a fighter. You get a great workout just with a heavy bag. Well, George, that's why I call you the fitness king. And George, I really want to thank you for joining me on the show today and really talking about your personal experiences. I know it's going to help countless people out there. Thank you, Rossi, for letting me spread more COVID awareness. Thank you very much. I appreciate that. Thank you, George. And I'll talk to you soon, OK? Thank you. Yes. You have a great day. And we'll chat later. And thank you for watching Beyond the Lines on Think Tech Hawaii. For more information, please visit RustyKamori.com. And my books are available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble. I hope that George's experiences and insights will help you and the people you care about. Aloha.