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NJ doctor who survived coronavirus launches fundraiser to help food banks
Dr. James Sanfilippo discusses surviving COVID-19 and his inspirational challenge on Good Day Philadelphia.
PHILADELPHIA - A Moorestown doctor spent nearly two weeks in quarantine after experiencing a mix of symptoms related to the COVID-19 disease.
When he finally recovered, Dr. James Sanfilippo decided he wanted to turn his frightening experience with the coronavirus into a positive experience by starting a challenge to benefit those in need.
Dr. Sanfilippo, an orthopedic spine surgeon who lives in Moorestown with his family, started the Haircuts for COVID-19 challenge after getting his head shaved by his young son.
He joined Good Day Philadelphia to discuss his illness and why it inspired him to do something helpful amid the pandemic.
FULL COVERAGE: CORONAVIRUS
According to Dr. Sanfilippo, his first symptoms appeared on March 10 before he was tested positive on March 14. While the symptoms were mild at first by the seventh day they were very severe.
"Woke up with high fevers, shortness of breath, severe cough," Dr. Sanfilippo explained about how quickly the illness escalated.
His primary doctor treated the illness aggressive by starting him on chloroquin, azithromycin, and zinc. His fever broke two days later and he has since recovered.
Afterwards, he was inspired by a friend shaving his son's hair to start up the Haircuts for COVID-19 challenge.
"We thought this would be a great idea to see if we could do it as a fundraiser to help out some local charities," He told FOX 29's Lauren Johnson. "And we thought the kids aren't going back to school for a month or two -- barbershops and salons aren't open, so why not shave your head, shave your kids heads if you need a haircut."
Then, the money that you would have spent at a barbershop or salon would instead be donated to a food bank.
Dr. Sanfilippo decide to donate those funds specifically to the Food Bank of South Jersey.
So, he started a GoFundMe with the hopes of raising maybe $5,000. To his surprise, the fundraiser "exploded" and has to-date raised over $21,000.
"This money is going to help the people in our community who are a lot less fortunate than I am and a lot of us," he added.
For more information about the Haircuts for COVID-19 GoFundMe fundraiser, you can visit the website here.
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