A Houston Texas man, Wesley Wallace, recently did an interview with KHOU11 to bring more awareness to monkeypox. According to the Texas Department of Health, there are now 57 cases of confirmed monkeypox in the Houston region with 183 across the state.
“It hurts to exist. Because my face isn’t touching anything. It’s not like sleeping on a pillow, ‘Oh it hurts.’ It just hurts to exist to the open air,” Wesley Wallace said.
“It hurts to exist.” | Wesley Wallace tested positive for #monkeypox – the blisters first appeared on his face, and are now spreading. He thinks he got the virus while at a bar July 4th weekend. He is sharing his story so others with the virus know they’re not alone. @KHOU pic.twitter.com/LTOGNSMfa3
— Janelle Bludau (@JanelleKHOU) July 25, 2022
Wallace also says he believes he got the virus during July 4th weekend when he was at the bar. “I’m going to say I was probably kissing somebody that had it and didn’t know it, just based on where my initial lesions popped up,” Wallace said.
Wallace explains just being awake is excruciating. “As you can see, from the time it started, it’s just progressed and has gotten worse and worse,” Wallace said.
It’s right there on his face – what he initially thought – was just a pimple that soon turned out to be Monkeypox. He has eight different lesions on his chin, and even one in his mouth. “Every sip, every bite, I’m just like ‘Oh I can’t, I can’t. It hurts, it hurts,'” Wallace said.
“Now random little lesions are starting to appear on my body. So you can see the one on my hand. There’s one there on my wrist,” Wallace said. He also revealed that it hasn’t been much access to vaccines. “There’s a huge high-risk population that are just hungry for the vaccine, and they don’t have access to it,” Wallace said. “I have friends that are actually buying airline tickets, flying to other cities just to go get the vaccine and then come home.”
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“You look at it, and it’s such an ugly virus. You look at it, and you recoil. And you think I don’t want to be anywhere near that. I knew the stigma that might come with it, but I also know a lot of people are facing that stigma,” Wallace said.
“If you hear from a friend or loved who has this … just let them know that they’re not some kind of pariah, they’re not dirty. And that they’re going to be okay, it’s not lethal. It’s just very temporary, and it’s scary for the moment,” Wallace said.