'Fit and healthy' healthcare worker spent two months in a coma due to Covid-19
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A healthcare worker has described his experience of Covid-19 and the "living hell" that his family went through.
Jerick Martin, 30s, described himself as "fit and healthy" when he was diagnosed with the coronavirus but within a week he was admitted to hospital where he spent 68 days in intensive care, much of it on a ventilator in an induced coma.
"I was a fit and healthy man in my thirties, working and enjoying my life with my wife and my daughter," he said.
His doctor told him he would be in a coma for "a few days" but he woke up "two months later".
"The impact of that is very frightening and it will have long-lasting effects," said Mr Martin.
"This disease does not care that you are young, fit and healthy. It does not care that you have a family who love you and who are waiting for you to come home. Anyone can catch it, and anyone can become very sick."
He said he wants people to realise the effect that the virus can have on them.
"I had multi-organ failure, and my family had to cope with me being unable to respond to them, unable to hear them, surrounded by machinery and tubes in a hospital bed," he said.
"My wife says this was a living hell for her. She thought I was going to die, and the hospital had to ring her twice to tell her that I might not live."
Mr Martin added that his life has been changed because of his experience, even though he has recovered and was allowed to go home.
"I lost 3.5 stone in weight," he said. "I have diabetes, shortness of breath and hypertension. I did not have these conditions before. Now, I need an inhaler and I am short of breath going up or down the stairs.
"I don’t know what the longer-term effects are going to be."