"I owe my life to the NHS!!"

What I liked

On the 6th November 2009, I was admitted via Accident and Emergency and Ward 15 into the Intensive Care Unit at Airedale Hospital. A flu-like illness which had started a week earlier had finally broken a previously fit and healthy 41 year old and I was now experiencing breathing difficulties. As a result, the next day I was placed into an induced coma and was diagnosed with Swine Flu and Strep Pneumonia. By the 12th November, the infection was still active so a phone call was made to Glenfield Hospital, Leicester for further guidance. As a result I was transferred to Leicester and after a tracheotomy procedure received ECMO treatment for the next seven days. A few more days of treatment followed, including chest drains being inserted and kidney dialysis, before on the 23rd November the decision was made that I was stable enough to be transferred back to Airedale. Over the next couple of days various tubes were slowly removed and the team began to talk of being “cautiously optimistic” and on the 27th November started to wake me up. I was eventually discharged on the 15th December. There are simply not enough words of thanks to express my overwhelming and eternal gratitude to the incredible team of professionals at Airedale Hospital. From my initial assessment in Ward 15 and the wonderful doctors who acted with remarkable speed in admitting me into Intensive Care. To the live-saving team headed by my consultant who nursed me day and night with such dedication and dignity. To the physiotherapists, dieticians and acute care nurses who continued to oversee my recovery during my stay on Ward 7. Absolutely everyone I had contact with went that extra mile and you should be extremely proud of every one of these incredible and amazing people who do far more than just their duties and to whom I will be forever indebted.