Covid-19 Survivor Praises ‘Angels’ of Royal Surrey’s ICU For Saving His Life

Published on: 16 Jun, 2020
Updated on: 19 Jun, 2020

Samuel a Covid-19 survivor thanks to the Royal Surrey

Samuel, a 60-year-old credit analyst from Guildford, says his life was saved by the “angels” of the intensive care unit (ICU) at the Royal Surrey He is recovering after nine weeks in the ICU with Covid-19.

His ordeal began at home with him initially thinking he was just overworking. Then he began to feel gradually worse, with a sore throat, headache and lethargy. Four days later, after he became severely short of breath with a high temperature, his wife called an ambulance.

At the Royal Surrey, Samuel (his surname was withheld in the RSCH press release) was placed on a Continuous Positive Airway Pressure (CPAP) machine to support his breathing. But he did not respond as well as was hoped so he was admitted to ICU, intubated and ventilated for just more than four weeks.

“My family were incredibly concerned and frightened,” said Samuel. “But they received daily calls from the ICU team with updates on my condition, which helped them to feel informed.”

After four weeks Samuel began to recover and he was gradually brought out of sedation.

As luck would have it, Samuel had his 60th birthday while on the unit. The team organised for his family to stand outside the hospital and sing happy birthday to him, using a walkie talkie so he could hear them. Sue Herson, the ICU matron, said it was an “extremely emotional moment”.

Now he is on a ward and getting stronger every day, although he doesn’t yet have the strength to stand. He concentrates on help from the physiotherapists to increase his mobility and can now move his arms and legs.

Samuel has nothing but praise for the team who cared for him during those extremely anxious nine weeks

“They are all angels and they’ve been marvellous, supportive and loving and I am so grateful to them all,” Samuel said. “The ICU physiotherapy team were also absolutely amazing and I can’t thank them enough.”

Now he is looking forward to getting home to his family.