LONDON, ONT. -- At first, 39-year-old Lizanne Blair of London just thought her allergies were starting to flare up, but it soon got much more serious.

“I had like a scratchy throat, some nasal discharge every now and again, but I chalked it up to, oh, it’s allergies and I’m watching so much in the news maybe it’s getting to my head,” says Blair.

A couple of days later however, she says things took a turn for the worse.

“All of a sudden I was gradually feeling more tired and exhausted and thought, OK, I will just go down early for the evening, but a few hours later I woke with a very high fever, sweating a lot and body aches.”

Blair called TeleHealth and the nurse on the line called an ambulance. She was diagnosed with COVID-19 but it was determined she could recover at home in self-isolation.

“I took Tylenol every three to four hours, which I know probably isn’t great, and then I forced myself to eat - and eat healthy - and that’s basically all I could do.”

It’s been a little more than two weeks since Blair came down with COVID-19.

She says she’s starting to feel much better. She knows she’s lucky to have been able to fight the virus and credits the health care workers who assisted her.

“I know they are working so hard and their workload is so much right now,” says Blair. “ I never felt like they were rushing or trying to get to the next call they really took their time to help and explain things to me.”

And she has a very important message for everyone else.

“Stay home! I know it’s hard and boring and things like that, but if you yourself think you can never get it, you’re fooling yourself.”