It was less than five months ago when LaQuita and Jason Coleman stood together to profess their love for one another and recite their vows.

That part about “in sickness and in health,’’ however, came sooner than the Birmingham couple expected.

Both were diagnosed with COVID-19 just days apart from each other. “We learned that part real quick,’’ said the 44-year-old LaQuita, "but we couldn’t help each other.".

Set to soon be released from their 14-day quarantine, the Colemans want others to know they can get through the illness. “You can survive it,’’ Coleman said. “We’ve relied on our faith.”

The Colemans are two of the more than 4,200 Alabamians diagnosed with coronavirus. Their plight for all practical purposes began in late March when LaQuita fell ill with flu-like symptoms. She was tested for COVID-19, but her test came back negative.

Then, on March 30, Jason began to feel a tickle in his throat. The following day he woke up with a fever of 104.

“He kept saying he was fine, and I was like, ‘No, you’re not fine,’’’ LaQuita said. “As the day went on, his fever would never break, so, I got him some medicine to reduce the fever and it went down to 102, but that still wasn’t good enough for me because he was in my bed.”

“I wasn’t sick then, but it made me nervous,’’ she said, particularly because she deals with underlying health issues.

On Wednesday, she took him to be tested for the virus. “He was still saying he was fine, but the symptoms come in waves,’’ she said. “One minute you think you’re doing fine but then, bam, you get another symptom.”

Two days later – on April 3 – Jason’s test results came back positive. “At this point, I’m freaking out because he was literally in my face Tuesday morning.”

Later that day, LaQuita went to pick up one of their favourite meals – loaded baked potatoes. “He said it just didn’t have any taste to it, and I said mine didn’t either,’’ she said. Their sense of taste and smell was gone, but those symptoms didn’t initially register with LaQuita.

On Saturday, LaQuita developed a cough and was having trouble breathing. “By reading a lot of stuff on the internet, I figured this is what I had but my husband was doing pretty much fine by then, so I was kind of confused,’’ she said. Still, she went on and got tested.

Her COVID-19 tests results came back positive on Monday, April 6. “Once you get that result, you’re almost ready to go downhill,’’ she said. And she quickly did.

“I started sleeping 18 hours a day. I couldn’t get up, I couldn’t eat, and I really couldn’t drink anything,’’ she said. “My husband had the bedroom first, so I was sleeping in my (home) office. I didn’t know we could have just stayed in the same bed but when you’re sick like that, you don’t want to be in the bed with anybody else.”

LaQuita, who works in billing for a medical practice, was still working from home. “All I did was literally work 6 ½ hours and sleep the rest of the time,’’ she said. “It was a struggle.”

“My husband’s symptoms were pretty mild but I had it worse and I had every symptom there was,’’ she said.

LaQuita’s symptoms included throat irritation, shortness of breath, fluid on her lungs, cough, headache and fever and chills. “It was really just awful,’’ she said. “I felt like, ‘I’m not going to make it.’’’

“Every time I got on the computer and looked at the internet, this person died and that person died,’’ she said. “I think what got me through it was going to come off social media and stopping looking at the news and people dying. I started looking at posts where people survived and how they survived.”

“Around Thursday, I started focusing on the positive of it. My church family, everybody was calling and praying,’’ she said. “My husband got to the point where he was coming up to my room and telling me to just get up and stop sleeping on it.”

LaQuita said her doctor called in antibiotics and made sure they had vitamins. She said there were times she felt she needed to be hospitalised but didn’t want to go that route if she didn’t have to.

Once she and Jason tested positive, they received letters from the Jefferson County Health Department that listed the steps they had to take under the quarantine. Other than that, however, she said they felt very much on their own during the ordeal. “We were left to swim on our own,’’ she said.

She is now feeling better, though she has persisting lung issues. She said she wanted to speak out so others would understand COVID_19 is no joke.

“I’ve had the flu plenty of times and this is no flu,’’ LaQuita said. “I’ve never had anything that had me sleeping for 18 hours a day where you can’t move and don’t know which symptom is next.”

“Honestly, I didn’t think it was that serious until I got it. This virus is real,’’ she said. “We just want everyone to know the seriousness of it and that you can get through it.”