Niwot track coach Henriques and wife battle COVID-19 diagnosis

When Niwot High School track coach Maurice Henriques discovered he had contracted the coronavirus, he was neither surprised nor intimidated. Henriques's wife Christina works as a nurse and with her increased exposure, they were both prepared for a COVID-19 diagnosis.

Fortunately for Henriques, he believes his week-plus stretch of mild symptoms is improving and his wife's symptoms have subsided after just a few days. His wife has even been cleared to return to work as soon as next week. "She's a lot tougher than me I guess," Henriques said with a chuckle.

Nurses are certainly one of the many heroes during this pandemic and Henriques's wife has taken working from home to a whole new level. She watches her husband's symptoms closely and even urges him to set up appointments with his doctor.

"If I'm sleeping she'll wake up and go, 'Yeah I was listening to your breathing last night,'" Henriques said. "I feel completely safe if she sees something. ...That makes me not worry about anything."

His good spirits were evident but Henriques wants to assure everyone that the coronavirus is nothing to take lightly. Symptoms can differ between people and Henriques has fought through fevers, fatigue and shortness of breath.

"It can be scary for some people, like just walking up a flight of stairs can completely knock you out and then you have to go lay down, and in your chest it's just so heavy," Henriques said. "For me it's just weird. I've never felt anything like that. I've never had a cigarette in my life, never smoked. It's crazy to see how much it affects your lungs."

A former football player at the University of Colorado and a dedicated morning runner, Henriques is thankful that he has stayed in great shape to fight the virus. His advice to people looking to gain an edge is simple, "Get out there and run, walk, do something."

Most days for Henriques now consist of near complete isolation in his room and away from his mother who is quarantining in a separate area of the house. To stay on the safe side, Henriques said they sometimes don't even see each other for days.

Although he was prepared for the diagnosis, his experience with the virus has brought upon a new perspective.

"If you had asked me two weeks ago, I probably would've been like, 'Hey man, we need to get everything back to normal. Let's go.' But now I'm just like, 'Wow,'" Henriques said. "Actually going through it and living through it, like wow."

Henriques recommends the utmost caution as our community begins its return to normalcy. He wants people to recognize that just because the virus may not have affected somebody you know, there is no room for complacency.

"I just want people to be aware like, 'Hey, this is for real,'" Henriques said. "You (have to) be smart because I think they're going to start opening things up, but we really aren't set until we get a vaccine on this. Just in my own household, the effects are totally different where my wife was probably about three or four days (with symptoms) and I'm at a week now and still not recovered. It can affect people differently."

Another, more pleasant surprise for Henriques, has been the immense amount of support he has received from the Niwot community. From friends and family to peers on the track, everybody has Henriques' back.

"(I) appreciate all the support," Henriques said. "I've even had two ladies that walk on our track reach out and send me an email. They don't even have kids at Niwot (High School) but they reached out because they heard about me. I thought that was cool."

Moving forward, Henriques feels overcoming the coronavirus will change the way he approaches life. Whether it's aiming to do things in your life for the right reason or an increase in gratitude, Henriques has found his silver lining. "We'll look back at it (and think) what did we learn? It's going to change the way that I go about life and the way I coach, especially in this situation."