The partner of a man stricken with coronavirus has said at one point doctors told her he was just hours from death.
Darren Hiles, 48, a taxi driver from Poulton in Wallasey was admitted to intensive care on April 7 after his health deteriorated rapidly after contracting Covid-19.
His partner, Heidi Neilson, 45, a mental health support worker from Poulton described how Darren urged her to call for help after he was barely able to move.
She said: “He had a headache and muscle weakness for a few days and then developed a cough.
“But on the day he went in he was barely moving.
“He was sleeping constantly and looking very grey – I knew there was something badly wrong.
“We twice called 111 because I could see he was deteriorating rapidly.
“They told us to ride it out because he wasn’t breathless.
“But then he said to me ‘I think I need some help’."
Heidi told us that in the 13 years she had known Darren, he had never once needed to see a doctor and was not the type to make a fuss.
She said: “I phoned 999 straight away and had to tell them that he was having chest pains.
“I knew they would come out if I told them his chest was hurting which I didn’t feel good about, but I knew it would get him some help.”
Darren was taken away by ambulance to Arrowe Park Hospital and within an hour was placed on the intensive care unit.
Days after he was admitted, Heidi received a call telling her that Darren was gravely ill.
She said: “I got a call from a consultant who told me if they hadn’t ventilated him he would have died that afternoon.
“His health had rapidly declined overnight and was on maximum support.
“Because of the deterioration, they told me not to be surprised if I got a call later that night.
“I sat on the edge of my bed all night and cried – I was praying that my phone wouldn't ring.
“I told my daughter not to call me in case I thought it was the hospital with news.”
Heidi had been unable to see Darren for the eight weeks, but she was sent a video of him being moved by medics wearing full PPE from his bed to a chair.
The video also shows Darren with a Tracheotomy through which a ventilator assisted with his breathing.
Heidi said: “The first time I saw him after he went into the hospital was on that video where he’s on the ventilator being moved by staff.
“My fit and healthy partner who went to hospital – the next thing I was watching him like that.
“I always thought they were put unconscious on a ventilator before all this happened but that isn’t the case.
“Being awake allowed him to move but because he needed to have the ventilator assistance they were also giving him physiotherapy.
“What the staff did was unbelievable. They were my eyes and my ears.”
Weeks after doctors said Darren had come close to dying, he was able to turn a corner and was eventually well enough to come off the ventilator, six weeks after he went in.
The second video shows Darren finally walking out of Arrowe Park Hospital after his terrible ordeal, holding hands with his family.
Heidi said: “I’ve always said Darren was the one who gave me a life.
“I came from quite a bad background but when I met Darren he gave me the life I didn’t know existed.
“And then suddenly he’s not there and he’s gravely ill and I can do nothing to help him.
“It gives you a whole new perspective as to what’s important and what isn’t.
“It’s amazing to have him home, I feel like we’ve been given a second chance and I know that sounds cheesy.
“The first port of call is we’re going to get married when the lockdown is all over.
"He’s a member of a darts team and they have all been amazing to us – it will be great to invite everybody round and have a big celebration then.”
