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A runny nose to a coma then being 'paralysed in a nightmare'

A Melbourne man did not recognise himself when he woke up, unable to walk and with a hole in his face, weeks after he was put into a coma within 90 minutes of going to hospital with COVID-19.

It started with a runny nose in the depths of Melbourne's stage four lockdown in September last year, but a case of COVID-19 almost killed Theo Ikosidekas.

The 32-year-old lay unconscious in a hospital bed, fighting for life for two weeks, and had to spend months more working to regain a semblance of his former life after that.

A year on, Ikosidekas is finally considered back to "normal", but he is haunted by post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) after his harrowing health battle.

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He has moved back in with his parents who, along with a psychologist, are helping him manage his PTSD.

The 32-year-old is confident he will move past the mental battle and is thankful he can return to work and his social life.

"I'm 100 per cent back and I couldn't be happier about it," he said.

His heath battle has taught him not to put anything in life off. 

"You don't know what you're going to have next year," he said.