A careworker's son has told the ECHO how his dad remembers nothing about how close to death he came during a 10-week battle with coronavirus.
Tony Ormesher, 59, from Litherland was taken to Aintree Hospital in April "gasping for air" after feeling poorly for a few days.
His son, Dave Ormesher, 29, said his dad first developed an upset stomach, the shakes and a high temperature.
Doctors prescribed him antibiotics after they thought he had a water infection and sent him home.
Soon after his dad Tony developed a cough and breathing difficulties.
Dave said: “He was gasping for air so he went in with my mum and got left in A&E around 9pm.
“By 5am the next morning he was in the intensive care unit (ICU) and put on a CPAP mask to help him breathe.
“After five days a doctor told us he was deteriorating and his body was getting tired.
“He said he would have to go on a ventilator and only had a fifty-fifty chance of surviving.”
Things got worse for the family when they got a call back from Aintree Hospital who told them that they didn’t think their dad was going to survive and they should prepare for the worst.
Tony, however, was not done fighting, and after doctors switched his ventilator so he would have to start taking breaths himself, his health started to take a positive turn.
Dave said: “They did a CT scan on his brain as he wasn’t coming out of sedation as well as they had hoped so they were looking for a bleed on his brain but that came back fine
“And after he had the tracheostomy done he started to wake up from that point.”
Tony spent a total of nearly eight weeks in Aintree Hospital and then another two weeks in the Walton Centre where he received physiotherapy.
After a 10-week total stay, he was finally allowed out of Walton Centre on June 12.
Dave said his dad doesn’t remember anything from his terrifying ordeal or even going into hospital.
He says the only thing he remembers is the complete surprise he felt when he woke up in ICU with doctors and nurses around him.
He said: “He thought he had been abducted by aliens when he woke up in ICU.
“They were all wearing PPE and walking around wearing facemasks and goggles.
“He just doesn't remember anything.”
When Tony was eventually allowed home his neighbours came out to give him a standing ovation.
Dave said his dad Tony is now getting stronger each day, and can’t speak highly enough of the medical staff who saved his life.
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