As many of us ponder when life will be going back to normal again, there's still a fraction of the population fighting COVID-19.

While it feels like society is making progress, we still have to be extremely careful in making sure we're not actively spreading the virus around, even if we don't think we have it.
If you have family members or loved ones impacted by the virus, then you've likely heard the effects of what the sickness does to the human body.

Maple Leafs legend Borje Salming, now 69-years-young, never tested positive for the virus, but saw his health rapidly deteriorate, to the point where he thought he wasn't going to make it after having severe troubles breathing, one of the biggest coronavirus symptoms, back in mid-February one night.

“I was sort of half-lying down and trying to fall asleep, said Salming from his homeland of Sweden over a phone call with The Athletic's Jonas Siegel. "But then I had to sit up, and then I sort of got a bad feeling. It came from the body, all the way up to the head. I thought I was going to faint and fall down. I woke up my wife and I said, ‘I think you have to call the ambulance because now I can’t breathe.'”

“I thought it was my last minutes."

“I thought I was dying. I think myself, I got really frustrated and that’s why I thought I was dying. When you can’t breathe, you die. I thought it was the end.”

Salming also experienced a severe cough and would often only get an hour of sleep per night.

The first ever European elected Hall of Famer played 16 of 17 NHL seasons with the Leafs and leaders all defenceman in Leafs history with points (768) and goals (148), as well as the all-time team leader in apples (620).

Sweden took a much more relaxed stance to social distancing with a softer policy, despite having 30,377 cases and 3,698 deaths, per worldometers.com, the 15th most deaths in the world by any country.

A soft spoken and humble man with a solid sense of humor, Salming was named to the NHL's Top 100 list back in 2018 and is still active in the Toronto community as a member of the Maple Leafs' alumni.

(h/t The Athletic's Jonas Siegel)