A dad almost died twice after being struck down by coronavirus as his family were told to prepare to say their goodbyes.
Father-of-two Phil Bainbridge was on the brink of death days after picking up what he thought was a cold, Leicestershire Live reports.
He spent five weeks in a coma as heroic medics worked around the clock to keep the 40-year-old alive.
So concerned were consultants that they told wife Jodie and two daughters Holly, 12, and eight-year-old Naeve to prepare to say their goodbyes.
He taken to hospital in January this year after struggling for breath.
Bainbridge, from Nottingham, says he expected his time in hospital to be brief - but could not imagine what was to come.
In hospital, he was dealt a series of setbacks, suffering sepsis, organ failure, pneumonia and bleeds on the brain.
His wife and daughters were called on two occasions and told he was close to death - but Phil came through and has emerged to tell his story.
He has been able to learn about his Covid survival journey thanks to a 'patient diary' which was kept for him by hospital staff.
"When I read that diary I thought 'surely it didn't happen," he said.
"But as time has gone on I realised just how bad it was and it's scary to think I almost died. It's so surreal."
Initially, he was admitted to Queen's Medical Centre in Nottingham before being transferred to Leicester's Glenfield Hospital.
There, he had to be put on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation machine to keep his lungs and heart working.
Being in a coma for the majority of his treatment, Phil was unaware of his condition and the huge effort underway to save his life.
He said he remembered vivid and bizarre dreams of travelling the world while he was in fact, hooked up to numerous machines keeping him alive.
There was one particularly poignant dream which has stayed with him.
"In this one dream, I was actually in the hospital and the doctor came over and said 'If you just get into this coffin everything will be fine'.
"I told her 'I'm not getting in' but she kept saying I'd feel all better if I just got in the coffin.
"I wonder if I had got in that coffin, would I have died that day?"
He told anyone who hasn't had a jab yet to book themselves in, saying: “I couldn’t move or talk, I didn’t know where I was.
“I’d had sepsis, been in a coma, multi-organ failure, pneumonia, bleeds on my brain. I had to learn to do everything for myself again. And it all started with Covid.
"Get the vaccine. At the time I was poorly it hadn’t been offered to my age group.
“I’ve had both doses now – this virus nearly killed me. Don’t let it do the same to you.”
Wife Jodie said: "The day he was admitted he rang and said they were going to put him in a coma. I put the phone down not knowing if I'd ever speak to him again.
"My world just shattered when they called me - I had to get the girls and rush to the hospital and they asked if their dad was going to die," Jodie said.
"I would go to bed every night and think I was going to get that phone call - but every morning I woke up and hadn't it was a huge relief."
