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Husband of US Senator Describes His Bout with COVID-19


Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., stands with her husband, John Bessler, and daughter Abigail Klobuchar Bessler, left, after speaking to supporters at her caucus night campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa.
Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., stands with her husband, John Bessler, and daughter Abigail Klobuchar Bessler, left, after speaking to supporters at her caucus night campaign rally in Des Moines, Iowa.

Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar and her husband, John Bessler, are describing his battle with coronavirus last month and the frustration of having a suffering loved one you cannot visit and comfort.

In an interview with a Minneapolis television station Sunday, Bessler and Klobuchar described how the early symptoms — a fever and a shortness of breath, among other symptoms — hit him suddenly.

After a week of self-quarantine at home, Bessler said he began coughing up blood. On March 20, he and Klobuchar agreed he should go to the hospital.

Klobuchar said it was difficult enough when Bessler was home and she could not be in the same room with him to help. But she said not being able to visit him in the hospital was “against everything you want to believe.”

Bessler has recovered. And after testing negative for the disease, he donated his blood plasma, from which doctors are collecting antibodies to treat other coronavirus patients, in hopes it will help them fight off the virus.

Klobuchar, a Democrat, is the senior senator from Minnesota and was a candidate for the 2020 presidential nomination until ending her campaign earlier this year.

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