'Don't risk it' say Shropshire coronavirus survivors after frightening fight
Two Shropshire patients who ended up fighting for their life in hospital today urged people to stay indoors, warning: “Don’t put yourself at risk.”
Both described the fear of knowing their lives were under threat, describing the desperate battle for breath.
Karen Peake, from Heath Farm in Shrewsbury, is still in hospital being treated for the virus, having spent several days in intensive care.
The 52-year-old said: “People need to realise this virus kills, I have seen things in ITU I will not forget. You may not get symptoms but you can still pass it on to a mum, dad, nan, grandad - it’s frightening.
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“I went out once to the supermarket and ended up in ITU fighting for my life. People need to stay home and save the NHS, they are so overwhelmed.”
Their warnings come as the total of people to have died in the county with the virus reached 38.
Mrs Peake, who is married and has a son and a daughter, was taken to Royal Shrewsbury Hospital on blue lights after meeting her GP in the practice car park for an assessment.
She spent days in intensive care on oxygen and is only now recovering on another ward.
"I was in hospital for six days and the NHS staff were wonderful. I am very lucky to be here."
Mrs Peake said the intensive care had been "scary", with her condition described as "touch and go".
She said wearing the mask to breathe “felt like trying to breathe with your head out of a car window at 50 miles and hour”.
Mrs Peake said she could not praise the hospital staff enough for their help and described how they had clapped her out of the intensive care unit when it was her time to leave.
Mal Parry, 65, from Sundorne Grove, in Shrewsbury, is now home and recovering after six “scary” days in hospital during which he needed oxygen to breathe.
He had initially felt sick and believed it was flu, but as his conditions worsened he spoke to his GP over the phone.
She asked to see him in the surgery car park and was so concerned that he was taken straight to RSH.
Mr Parry, a member of Battlefield Bowling Club, said he felt he was a “lucky man” to be home and praised staff at RSH.
Mr Parry said: “It is serious without a doubt. Originally I think people thought it was some type of strong flu but it is definitely not. I was in hospital for six days. I am very lucky to be here.”
He was given oxygen and even had to spend his 65th birthday isolated in hospital unable to see his wife Wendy or his two daughters – although doctors and nurses did sing ‘happy birthday’ to him from outside his room.
He said: “It is scary, and that is why people need to do what the government is saying and stay indoors.
“Being close to it and surviving, I am a very lucky man.”
Mr Parry also praised staff at the hospital saying: "They are working extremely hard. They are dedicated people and doing wonders. They deserve all the applause – they deserve a lot more, they are superb people."
