OGDEN, Utah — Antonio Cruz Martinez remembers getting very sick.
"The body aches were so bad, I could barely walk," he said.
Martinez remembers thinking he was going to die when he was first diagnosed with COVID-19. He had heard a former roommate contracted it and passed away.
One of the first people he encountered when he was first diagnosed was Amy Carter, a nurse-epidemiologist with the Weber-Morgan Health Department.
"I think I was laying on the bathroom floor," Martinez said in an interview with FOX 13. "I was looking up at the ceiling and I had her on speaker phone. I was walking her through my symptoms were... she would call me like the next day and text me once in a while."
Martinez did recover and has documented some of his experience on his Instagram account, where he also shares videos of his DJ work. When it came time for him to get the COVID-19 vaccine, the one who administered the second dose? Carter herself. It was the first time they had met face-to-face.
"She did a lot for me at the beginning," he said of her.
Martinez is now fully inoculated and said he is appreciative of Carter and other health care workers who have been working to fight the deadly virus. Carter was unavailable for comment on Monday, the Weber-Morgan Health Department said, but the agency also said it was glad to see Martinez doing so well.
"Thank you for your support, Antonio! We’re glad to be turning this corner of the pandemic with you," they wrote on Instagram, sharing a photo of the moment.
This week, Utah will clear 1.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine being administered. It's a combination of first and second doses.
"I feel great right now. I’m kind of relieved we were able to develop this vaccine," Martinez said, adding: "Get vaccinated as soon as possible when you can."