A doctor has revealed her long and harrowing battle to survive Covid-19, with medics saying it was 'nothing short of a miracle' she lived.
GP Dr Anushua Gupta spent 150 days in hospital last year, and had to learn to sit upright, stand and walk again.
And, after she was weaned off sedation, she initially couldn't speak due to 'prolonged' intubation whilst on a ventilator to breathe.
Dr Gupta, who is now raising funds for two pieces of vital equipment for Wythenshawe Hospital's Acute Intensive Care Unit and speaking out to thank the NHS and Wythenshawe Hospital for saving her life, detailed her struggle in a social media post.
She contracted coronavirus in March last year, two weeks after her 40th birthday.
Her daughter, Ariana, was just 18 months old at the time.
The toddler remained at the family home in south Manchester with her father, Dr Gupta's husband Ankur, during her long stay in hospital.
Ankur, she said, was and remains her 'rock'.
"I remember the night I deteriorated clearly like it was yesterday - the early hours of April 4, 2020," said Dr Gupta, a locum GP who was based at surgeries in Bury and now works on-call and 111 shifts from home.
"I became severely breathless. I started seeing a black winged figure everywhere I looked.
"Immediately I thought it was the angel of death. I was petrified."
Admitted to hospital at Wythenshawe, she went on: "An intensive care unit consultant came to see me soon after and explained that I would have to go onto a ventilator. My worst fears were coming true.
"I called Ankur and asked to see Ariana on Whatsapp video at the thought that I would never get to see our beloved daughter ever again. I would never get to fulfil the dream my husband and I had of living into our 80/90s together.
"I had to keep it together for the sake of Ankur.
"He had to be strong for Ariana as I believed at that time that I was never going to make a comeback."
That night she was intubated and put on a ventilator to breathe. Dr Gupta remained in a medically-induced coma for two months.
Ten days later, her condition deteriorated.
On April 13, 2020, she was put on an ECMO machine.
"Simply put, it is a machine which does the job of the lungs whilst the lungs rest and repair - in my case, repair from the huge insult caused by severe Covid pneumonia infection.," Dr Gupta said.
"Of course, in reality, how ECMO works is a lot more complex than that. Not everyone is a candidate for ECMO.
"ECMO is the most superior form of life support when a ventilator fails. It was one of the most important keys to my survival.
"I was one of the very few in the UK to go on ECMO for Covid-19 at the time. Doctors had very little hope if any that I would survive."
In spite of the odds, by the middle of May there were signs of recovery.
Dr Gupta was slowly weaned off the machine after 34 days, but spent a further eight weeks on a ventilator.
"I have been told by many doctors and nurses that it was nothing short of a miracle that I survived," she added.
Dr Gupta was transferred onto the Acute Intensive Care Unit (AICU) at Wythenshawe on June 16, where she remained for a month before being moved to the North West Ventilation Unit (NWVU), also based at the hospital, where she had intense rehabilitation.
"Here I was cared for by a wonderful team of doctors and nurses," she said.
"To say that the AICU nurses were simply amazing at their job is an understatement. They are like super-humans. They are friends, companions and highly experienced nurses all in one person.
"I felt so lucky to have received the care I did from every department I was in during my admission."
Dr Gupta told of muscle atrophy and having to learn to walk just a few steps.
"I had to be hoisted around for two months," she said.
"When I was weaned off sedation, I was alarmed to find out that I had no voice. It was so distressing that I could not communicate."
Dr Gupta needed communication cards at one stage, and to this day her voice still hasn't returned to normal.
"I was very worried about my voice normalising especially as I am a GP and my job revolves around talking and also that I wouldn’t be able to sing rhymes with my toddler," she said.
She was discharged home on September 1, and says her daughter has been her 'driving force'.
"The recovery from Covid-19 is by no means complete for me," Dr Gupta, 41, said.
"I have significant changes to my lungs. It is unknown at this stage whether those changes are reversible.
"I still do get breathless but this is improving and my exercise tolerance is getting better.
"I was suffering significantly with pains in all of my joints for many months. I feel this may well be part and parcel of Long Covid Syndrome. However, this is improving as I am getting fitter and more active.
"My mental health is so much better. I try to keep a very positive outlook on life.
"I feel like I've been given a second chance in life. The power of having supportive family and friends close by is phenomenal for one's mental and physical well being. I must say I have been truly blessed.
"Thank-you so much Wythenshawe Hospital.
"I am here because of you all. I am able to write my story because you saved my life."
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News , Dr Gupta, who resumed general practice last November, stressed the continuing need for the public to abide by social distancing, wear face masks and regularly wash their hands.
"The fight is not over yet. We are still in a pandemic," she said.
"My main message is that this is an example of how severe Covid can be for even the younger generation.
"We are still seeing a lot of cases. I want to raise awareness of the long-lasting affects Covid can leave."
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