A Dublin mum-of-four who was one of the first people in Ireland to contract Covid-19 thought she was dying after the virus forced her to be put into a coma.
Dublin mother Anne Cahill, who is in her early fifties, started feeling symptoms in March 15 which hit her hard but little did she think she would end up hospital bound for almost one month.
She was left confused as medical experts outlined what she was battling in a time when very little was known about the virus.
It started while she was out walking with her husband Tony when she first felt the "range of bad symptoms.
She revealed in the The Lancet Medical Journal that she was "feeling hot and cold with headaches, throwing up.
"I was on the sofa barely able to move. Across the next few days, it got worse.”
She was rushed to hospital in an ambulance after her condition took a drastic turn.
“The paramedics told me that my temperature was not above 38°C so I couldn’t be taken in for Covid.
“But I just told them ‘you have to take me in, I’m dying here’.
"It was like a ghost town in [St. James's Hospital] – normally you cannot move in the A&E waiting room as it is so crowded.
"It was the first time I understood how serious this pandemic was becoming. People were even scared to go to hospital for emergencies."
After having bloods and swabs taken, hours after admission she had tested positive for coronavirus, but what's worse, she also had a serious kidney infection that required immediate antibiotic treatment.
On March 24, she was told by a nurse that she was "getting worse, not better" and she was put into an induced coma for nine days while a ventilator helped her breath.
"I felt very sick when I woke up [from the coma]; in terrible pain from the intubation and this head-banging nausea. I also felt like I was a bit yellow and was asking the nurses if I’d had jaundice."
Anne was eventually moved to a higher dependency ward and then to a private room where her road to recovery began.
Speaking about recovering she said: “You would think the privacy would be nice, but when you’ve spent your life with your husband and four children, you’re used to having lots of people around. This was the opposite.
"Even though I knew I was getting better, the silence in that room was horrible. And because of the fear of the disease the staff that came in, such as nurses and cleaners, did not want to stay. They were in and out so fast. I understand it – they were scared.”
In the final few days in hospital, Anne still struggled to walk but was allowed to leave over Easter.
"I wish I hadn’t done that now but I was just so afraid that having been there so long, they might find another reason for me to have to stay. I realise that’s silly, but that’s how I felt at that moment."
Recovery was a long process for Anne who spent most days in the house not moving.
“My daughter had to help me blow dry my hair. I felt I was closer to 90 years old than 50 in those early days."
But after six months, she was able to return to her retail job and agreed to take part in the medical study.
Describing her current situation, she laughed “It’s shopping or cleaning but not both.
"Until [I get the vaccine], I am like the Covid police. I think I will be the very last person to take off my mask.”
You can read Anne's full story here.
