Fitness Enthusiast Who Died of COVID Didn't Want to Be 'Guinea Pig' With Vaccine

British fitness enthusiast John Eyers, who died of COVID-19, didn't want to get vaccinated, in part because he considered it an experiment, but he paid the "ultimate price" for a "bad decision," according to his sister.

Before he was hospitalized, Eyers, 42, had no known preexisting conditions, climbed mountains and competed in triathlons. The 42-year-old's family believes he would have survived COVID-19 if he'd been vaccinated, and his twin sister, Jenny McCann, said the family got into an argument about inoculations about a month and a half before he died.

"John started saying really crazy things that didn't make sense," McCann told The Guardian. "About how people were only getting the vaccine for free McDonald's, and there was formaldehyde in it.... He kept saying: 'I won't be a guinea pig.'"

Eyers died of COVID-19 in July. McCann wrote on Twitter that her brother believed he would be "OK" if he contracted the disease. Given his penchant for staying healthy, she said, her brother thought he'd have a mild illness, but he ended up in the hospital "pumped full of every drug."

Eyers came down with an extremely severe case of COVID-19, which landed him in the intensive care unit (ICU). McCann told The Guardian that her brother regretted not getting vaccinated and that doctors said he was "beating himself up so much" before they put him on a ventilator.

"He probably wouldn't be dead if he'd had the vaccine," McCann said. "It's really quite simple. He made a bad decision. We all make bad decisions all the time. And he paid the ultimate price for it. Which is so unfair."

Eyers tested positive for the coronavirus on June 29, and by July 3 he was on his way to the hospital. The next day, he sent Jonathan Cohen, his best friend, a voice note, which he said was the "worst" he's ever heard in his life. During the 90-second note, Eyers is able to speak about 12 words, and while he won't share it publicly, Cohen said he'll play it for anyone who doubts COVID is real.

"It is the worst thing in the world. I can hear the fear in him. He is literally gasping for air. This is someone I knew who could run 10K or climb a mountain without struggling," Cohen told The Guardian.

Eyers went into the ICU on July 6, and five days later he was preparing to be intubated. In the last message he sent his twin sister, he wrote, "Don't let them give up on me." He died on July 27.

Cohen said he also talked with Eyers about getting vaccinated against COVID-19, saying that he would need it if he wanted to take a vacation. His friend wasn't firmly against getting vaccinated, according to Cohen, because he was planning on getting the shot but "wanted to wait."

"It wasn't that he would never get it. But it was more the misinformation, really," Cohen told The Guardian.

McCann and her family continue to share Eyers' story in the hopes that others will be motivated to get vaccinated and not go through the same heartbreak they're still experiencing months after his death. She advised people who have doubts to seek the advice of medical experts and not rely only on the internet.