Tony Boselli’s son shares his fight with COVID-19

[Jaxson De Ville]

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Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy seems to believe his football-playing cyborgs are impervious to the coronavirus. Florida State tackle Andrew Boselli would beg to differ.

Boselli, the son of eventual-Hall-of-Famer Tony Boselli, contracted COVID-19 last month. The elder Boselli, only 47 years old, ended up in ICU for three days. The 22-year-old Boselli had a rough time with the illness, too.

“When I first heard the news of the coronavirus pandemic, I, like most, saw the studies that said it was primarily a danger to the elderly and figured it wouldn’t have much impact on me, my family or friends,” Andrew Boselli writes in an item posted at the Florida State website. “The last few weeks, though, have shown just how wrong I was, and just how seriously we all need to treat this outbreak.”

Andrew Boselli wasn’t hospitalized, but that hardly means he had an easy time of it.

“I . . . want everyone to know just how hard it was,” Andrew Boselli writes. “I spent days feeling miserable. . . . I promise, even if you’re young and healthy, you do not want this virus. Although I had what doctors consider to be a ‘mild’ case of it, my experience was anything but mild.”

Andrew Boselli explains his struggles with a high fever and shortness of breath, symptoms that came and went without warning. He also addresses his father’s fight with the disease, which also featured wild swings between moments of apparent recovery and relapse.

“This whole journey has been a wakeup call for me,” Andrew Boselli writes. “We are all fighting against a serious illness that doesn’t care who you are or where you’re from, and one that can cause major problems no matter how old you are.”

It’s unfortunate that the Bosellis had to deal with this, but it’s very good that they’re making their experiences known to those who continue to downplay the risks and realities of this disease that clearly is much worse than the flu. In a video accompanying his essay, Andrew Boselli makes a plea to the general public: “This is a very, very serious situation. I just reach out to everyone to please take this seriously. Practice social distancing. Practice what is being asked of us. One, to take care of yourself and those around you. And you also could be impacting someone you don’t even know, and putting them in a critical situation.”

Thanks, Andrew, for providing a voice of clarity and reason at a time when so many continue to shrug at this disease.