A Liverpool support worker was left fighting for her life in intensive care with coronavirus just a day after being taken into hospital.
Wendy Bullen, 49, from Old Swan, a community support worker, spent over two weeks on a ventilator in a critical condition after she was rushed to hospital with breathing difficulties and a fever.
Wendy began suffering from coronavirus symptoms towards the end of last month when she experienced difficulty breathing, a high temperature, muscle ache and a cough.
Within a week her condition deteriorated sharply and Wendy found herself confined to her bed and unable even to use the stairs, which led her son Lewis, 27, to call an ambulance.
She was taken to the High Dependency Unit at The Royal Liverpool Hospital on Sunday, April 5 where she tested positive for Covid-19.
Within a few hours doctors had told Wendy that she would need to be immediately placed on a ventilator to stand any chance of survival.
Wendy would spend 18 days in an induced coma with doctors telling her three sons that her chance of survival was "50-50".
While in hospital she also developed pneumonia, a pulmonary embolism and sepsis from one of the lines into her neck.
However despite the odds, the mum of three was able to come off a ventilator and just six days later she was discharged from hospital.
Wendy told the ECHO : "When I was taken to hospital I felt like I was dying. I couldn't lift my head; I couldn't eat anything; I had a cough, and a really high temperature with shortness of breath and I had no sense of taste.
"I was so frightened because I thought I wouldn't survive being put on a ventilator but for me it saved my life.
"When I spoke to my three boys on the phone they were crying and I told them to be strong and that I would fight with everything I could to come home."
Wendy said as soon as she woke up she was determined to get home as quickly as possible to complete her recovery.
For her, she wanted to be home for her kids and within days she was already to walk up and down the stairs in hospital.
She was discharged and returned home on Wednesday, after spending 24 days in hospital.
She added: "The staff at The Royal are amazing. They phoned each one of my sons and had nurses speak to them about my condition.
"I can't thank that hospital enough. They saved my life. Hats off to them, those people are angels sent from above who would do anything to help you."
Wendy's son Lewis Langford, 27, described the past month as a "living nightmare" and said he did not know whether his mum would live or die.
He said that his mum's experience had taken a toll on the entire family as they monitored her condition on an hour by hour basis.
Lewis told the ECHO : "If we hadn't got her to hospital when we did I think she probably would have died. Doctors had to ventilate her immediately.
"Mum called me and my two brothers to say she was going to be put into a coma and placed on a ventilator. It was horrific to hear her that hysterical down the phone.
"I didn't know whether she would live or die. It was a living nightmare.
"Everyday I feared that they would call to tell me she had passed away. I stopped eating and sleeping. It was so distressing.
"We would get hour by hour updates from staff at the hospital while she was in the High Dependency Unit. One hour they'd tell you she was improving, the next they'd say she'd taken a turn for the worse.
"I'm so glad she is home now and recovering. There are families going through what we went through now and it's awful to think what it must be like for families who don't get this outcome."
Wendy is now continuing her recovery at home.
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