THE heartwarming moment a tearful coronavirus survivor, 35, leaves hospital to a standing ovation from NHS staff after spending two weeks in a coma has been captured.
Sarah Wood was put into a medically-induced coma for almost two weeks but left a Durham hospital on Tuesday after her family was told to prepare for the worst.
Ms Mood, mum to five-year-old daughter Amber, was wheeled out of the intensive care unit at Darlington Memorial Hospital in County Durham just days after her fiancé was told to prepare for the worst.
She was one of the youngest patients to come out of the ward having beaten Covid-19.
Partner Christopher McCurdy, 32, was told his fiancé “might not come home from the virus” as she lay unconscious, hooked up to a ventilator and critically ill.
In an effort to save her life, medics tried a tracheostomy, hailed as a “new technique”, where a tube attached to a ventilator was inserted into her windpipe trough a hole in her neck in order to help her breathe.
The technique was a success and she was brought out of the coma and was released from ICU, also known as the intensive treatment unit (ITU), on Tuesday where she continues to recover in hospital.
The mum-of-one told Mirror Online: “I got a standing ovation as I came out. It was very overwhelming and emotional. I cried as they were wheeling me off the ward.”
I got a standing ovation as I came out. It was very overwhelming and emotional. I cried as they were wheeling me off the ward.
Sarah Wood
She and her partner have thanked NHS staff for saving her life and want to raise money for the ICU as a way of paying them back.
Speaking from her hospital bed, Ms Wood said: “I can’t thank the staff in ITU enough. Without them my daughter wouldn’t have a mum, my partner wouldn’t have me.
“I don’t think I would have pulled through it. I certainly wouldn’t have survived on my own.
“They all kept telling me to fight for my daughter and my partner and my family.
“They kept telling me that I was getting stronger.”
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Mr McCurdy described the ordeal as a “living nightmare”.
The previously healthy 35-year-old was rushed to A&E on March 27 when she became unresponsive after suffering breathing problems, a cough and severe headaches. A test confirmed she had Covid-19.
She was then moved to the ICU and told that she would be put in an induced coma and hooked up to a ventilator.
Mr McCurdy explained over a GoFundMe page: “Much to my horror, this was the last thing I heard from Sarah.
“Her life was now in the hands of Darlington Memorial ITU.
“They advised that Sarah might not come home come from this virus, her lungs had become porous and infected, but insisted that they would be everything they can to help her.”
Staff told him that she would have a “fighting chance” if her organs didn’t fail.
As Ms Wood’s condition began to stabilise, medics tried to wake her up and remove the ventilator pipe from her throat but were forced to abandon the plan when she stopped breathing.
Mr McCurdy wrote: “It became a horror show. Darlington Memorial ITU tried their hardest but Sarah eventually had to be put all the way back in to a full coma.
“Sarah stopped breathing, oxygen levels in her blood dropped and worse Sarah now can remember the full situation.
“Her life once again was in the balance and ITU stood strong.
“I was told to take it day by day with my little girl and family. It was a sledgehammer blow to us all but we needed to keep faith in the hospital’s ITU.”
Ms Wood’s condition has gradually improved over the last week and the tracheostomy has been taken out of her throat, allowing her to talk again.
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Two negative swabs confirmed she has beaten coronavirus.
Still in hospital, Ms Wood hasn’t seen her family since she was admitted on March 27 and still doesn’t know when she will be allowed to go home.
She said: “They haven’t been able to see me because no one is allowed in.
“It’s the longest I’ve ever been away from them both.
“When the tube was in I wasn’t able to speak to them.”
Staff helped out by giving Ms Wood a whiteboard and marker to write messages that the ICU nurses delivered to her family and also by holding her phone to her ear to hear the voices of her partner and daughter.
She said the staff “went above and beyond” by comforting her and giving care.
Mr McCurdy also thanked the hospital, saying “the nurses, doctors and specialist doctors saved Sarah’s life”.
The family has set up a GoFundMe page in a hope to repay the staff and support the ITU.
Ms Wood added: “I can’t thank the nurses enough.
“The team here have been outstanding and the nurses have been fantastic. I want to do this to give something back.”
Both her fiancé and daughter had contact with her when she had the virus, but neither has developed symptoms.
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