James Penney spent six weeks in hospital after catching Covid (Image: James Penney)
A COVID-19 survivor who was brought back from the brink of death at the same hospital where Boris Johnson was treated will be paying tribute tomorrow to the NHS staff who saved him. As his health was rapidly declining, James Penney’s wife, brother, and parents were told to prepare to say their goodbyes.
They rushed to the intensive care unit at a Reading hospital to be by the then 27-year-old’s side, but they weren’t allowed to touch him, in case they became infected by coronavirus. Mr Penney’s loved ones were told he might not make it through the night, so they begged the staff at the Royal Berkshire in Reading to see if there was anything else they could try. He was then moved to St Thomas’s Hospital in central London and put on a specialist breathing machine, which he says is usually used to help premature babies breathe and had been repurposed during the pandemic.
After ECMO treatment Mr Penney was still on a ventilator but it began to look like he’d recover (Image: James Penney)
The customer support worker said: “I don’t know the ins and outs of it, but they said they didn’t have the ECMO machine at Royal Berks, so they’d have to try and look for another hospital for me to move me to and to put me on this machine.
“And luckily, they found one, St. Thomas and Guys. I think Boris [Johnson] went there, that’s what they were telling me. So I was like, oh wow, I’m in there.
“They put me on this machine, and obviously it worked. It kept me going while my body sort of recovered, took the pressure off my lungs and my heart while allowing my body to recover. It’s quite hard to keep track of it, but I think I was in there for a month or so.”
The now father of an 18-month-old baby says he and his brother caught Covid during a family holiday in Devon.
As fit and healthy men who were in their mid-20s, they had not expected the illness to affect them like it did.
But, a few days after getting back from their break, Mr Penney’s brother Stephen was taken to hospital by ambulance.
Mr Penney and his wife Pammi having fun at a wedding a month after he was discharged from hospital (Image: James Penney)
A couple of days later, Mr Penney found himself opposite his brother in the respiratory ward, where they were kept on oxygen while their bodies fought the infection.
And while his brother recovered enough to be discharged on July 11, 2020, in time to watch Italy defeat England in the Euro final, he was not so lucky.
As he was fading in and out of consciousness for a lot of the time he was in hospital, he says he cannot be sure over how long he was hospitalised. However, he believes he was in the Royal Berkshire for around a fortnight and then spent a month being cared for by staff at St Thomas’s.
The 32-year-old said: “It was so scary. When my brother got out, I thought, that’s it, I’ll be out in two days.
“And then fast forward to the best part of the month, and I wake up, and I’m like, what happened? And then them explaining it to me was just really heart-wrenching.
“I couldn’t have visitors because obviously it was Covid so I could only talk to my family, well, I couldn’t talk because I had a tracheostomy, so I couldn’t even, I couldn’t even sign, you sort of write on a whiteboard sort of thing to speak.
“But hearing my family say, look, you’re so lucky to be alive. It was kind of heartbreaking.”
To raise funds for the NHS, James and his family climbed Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Yr Wyddfa (Image: James Penney)
He is looking forward to tomorrow as he’ll be speaking at a Day of Reflection event organised by NHS Charities Together at the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire.
The Day of Reflection is held on March 9 to remember the people who lost their lives in the pandemic and pay tribute to the work of frontline workers.
He said: “It’s going to be tough for many people. Everyone knows someone who was affected by it, either people who’ve died or people who’ve gone through it, and it’s going to be a sad time.
“But I think as well, you’ve got this massive shout out to all the frontline workers, all the doctors and nurses who just stepped up and really did their jobs as well as possible to try and save as many lives as possible.
“I’m so grateful to be alive. Without the help of the doctors and nurses, I wouldn’t be here, and a load of people wouldn’t be here.
“So it’s saying thanks to them for all their hard work, selfless work.”
Other speakers at tomorrow’s event include Michael Rosen, the author of We’re Going on a Bear Hunt, who will share a specially written poem and testimonial about his battle with Covid, having spent 48 days in intensive care due to the virus.
He said: “It’s an honour for me to be asked to say a few words at this important event.
“A shadow passed over us and hundreds of thousands of people felt the sudden and unexpected loss of loved ones.
“I am so glad to be part of an occasion when we can reflect and share our thoughts and feelings about what happened.
“Thanks to the expertise and care I received, I came through, but I look back over my shoulder and think of those who didn’t.
“They were people who were with me in hospital or who didn’t even get to hospital – companions of a sort. We owe it to them and their families to remember them.”
Viewers can watch the event via livestream at nhscharitiestogether.co.uk/five-years-on from midday tomorrow (March 9), starting with a minute’s silence.
