Health worker to return to duty after fighting for life against Covid

A health care assistant who spent almost two months fighting for life after contracting Covid-19 is set to return to duty after being treated at the hospital where he works.

Neil McDonald spent 60 days in intensive care at Castle Hill Hospital, but after making a full recovery from the virus will return to the hospital’s endoscopy team later this month.

“I feel brilliant now, back to my normal self,” Mr McDonald said.

“I cannot wait to come back to work, to see my team and get back to some normality.”

He was diagnosed with Covid -19 shortly after he began to experience symptoms of the virus at the end of April.

He said: “My symptoms became rapidly worse when I was first diagnosed. I was admitted to hospital three days after finding out my positive result. Everything after this happened really quickly.”

Mr McDonald admitted to Hull Royal in May but his condition got so bad he was rushed to the hospital’s Intensive Care Unit two days later. He stayed there for 60 days.

He was put on a ventilator and sedated as the intensive care team battled for five weeks to save his life. His family and workmates and friends were told to prepare for the worst more than once as his condition worsened time and again.

He said: “I remember everything about my time in hospital apart from the time I spent on the ventilator in ICU.

“I remember feeling extremely frightened - it’s a daunting place to be.

His condition finally improved enough for him to move off the intensive care unit at the start of July to continue his recovery on Ward 5.

‘CAN’T WAIT TO BE BACK’: Neil McDonald

Mr McDonald spent a week on the ward before moving to the Complex Rehabilitation Unit on Ward 9 at Castle Hill to build up his strength before he was able to go home to continue his journey - cheered out by his friends and colleagues who had looked after him.

A video showing Mr McDonald leaving hospital has been released by Hull University Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust.

He is now back to full strength, with no lasting effects from his illness.

“I want to say a massive thank you to everyone who looked after me,” he said. “Without the staff in this trust, I would not be here today.

“And to my own team - I’m really looking forward to coming back to annoy you all again.”

Endoscopy Sister Lucy Holgate said she and the rest of her team were delighted to be welcoming their colleague back to work.

She said: “We were so, so worried about him and there were many times when we braced ourselves for the worst, thinking he wasn’t going to pull through.

“But he did and I can’t tell you how glad we’ll all be to have him back with us.”