A paramedic suffering from the long term affects after developing coronavirus last year doesn't know if he'll ever be able to return to his old job.
David Leahy from Lancashire was still working as paramedic when he was admitted to hospital with coronavirus in May 2020.
Speaking to Your Call, the North West Ambulance in house magazine, he talked about how he's still suffering the long term affects of the disease nine months on.
David said: "When I fell ill with COVID-19, I spent two days at home feeling terrible so I got a test and it came back positive.
"I was aching all over and had temperature reaching 40 degrees which would not shift with paracetamol.
"It was only when I started to have breathing problems that my wife, who is also a paramedic, tested my oxygen levels which were drastically low so she called 999."
David was rushed to Royal Preston Hospital where he spent eight days in intensive care.
He said: “I don’t remember much in intensive care (ICU). I spent most of the time drifting in and out of consciousness.
"I remember looking at all the other beds around me which were full of people on ventilators and suddenly realising just how poorly I was.
"It was a very dark place to be in and for the first time in my life I felt scared.
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"I also remember the nurses coming in a few times with a tablet device so I could see and speak to my wife – who was also suffering from COVID-19 at the same time but didn’t need to be hospitalised."
Things got worse for David in intensive care when developed pneumonia and blood clots in his lungs.
It was only after he agreed to trial a drug called corticosteroid dexamethasone that he started to improve.
David was in hospital for a total of five weeks until he was able to breath without supplementary oxygen.
He has now been back at work at North West Ambulance since September on alternative duties, helping his colleagues by delivering PPE and vaccinate staff members against the disease that left him fighting for life.
David added: "I am still under a respiratory consultant. My lungs are functioning at 72% as they have been damaged from scarring from the effects of the disease.
"Going up a flight of stairs still takes my breath away and you can hear in my voice the impact it has had on my lungs.
"I don’t know if I can ever do my role as a paramedic again as it is a very physically demanding job, right now it just isn’t an option for me.
"The Senior Management Team here in Blackpool has been exceptionally supportive and has helped me in every way possible to get back to work and get back some sense of normality - to which I am forever grateful for."
David’s experience with coronavirus in hospital was documented by an ITV film crew who were following doctors in hospital through the pandemic.
His recovery and return to work is set to feature in a documentary due to be aired this March.
