A DAD has sung the praises of the Basildon Hospital heroes who saved his life during his gruelling battle with Covid-19.

Fraser Donald says he would have died if it wasn’t for the help of the team who cared for him during his three week hospital stay - and who still are continuing to monitor him even now he has returned home.

Mr Donald, who has no underlying health conditions, first began to show symptoms in December. These included a cough, fatigue, a sore back, feeling cold and losing a sense of taste and smell.

But although wife Liz Donald, who too tested positive for Covid-19, managed to overcome her feat with the virus, she was forced to call an ambulance for Fraser when his oxygen levels dropped below normal.

Liz, from Billericay, said: “It was at the end of December, around the 28th, when we started to get ill.

“The thing with Covid is you think you’re getting better. I had symptoms like a headache, nausea, a slight cough, and was ill for about nine days and then I managed to recover. But he had it really bad and then got worse.

“Our daughter, Jane, who lives in America, suggested we got a pulse oximeter, which measures your oxygen levels, and so we did. 

“But about ten days in I had to call him an ambulance for him, his oxygen levels just plummeted.

“If it wasn’t for that I wouldn’t have got him to the hospital so quickly, it could’ve been much worse.”

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From here, Fraser, 71, spent his time in Basildon’s Intensive Care Unit (ICU) - partially in the high dependency area and partially in the wider part of the ward.

Mr Donald also participated in the Oxford University trials and was given one plasma infusion during the process.

But the hardest part for the family to cope with was not being able to see or contact Fraser directly while he was in hospital.

Liz, who suspects he could’ve had the second strain of the virus, continued: “Through his stay he was on a CPAP breathing machine, which is one step down from a ventilator. He also had an IV drip and a feeding tube where he couldn’t take any food.

“And we couldn’t visit or anything. We couldn’t speak to him where he was wearing a mask and he was laying on his stomach - this is meant to help expand the lungs better. But he couldn’t talk or message on his phone.

“Not being able to sleep was the hardest thing for him, he was very uncomfortable, there were lots of noises and he had to be woken up every two hours for a blood pressure check or a blood test. They looked after him the whole time.

“He has actually had a bit of counselling after due to seeing people nearby and those next to him who didn’t make it. It’s a horrendous experience.”

Thankfully, Fraser has now been home for around two weeks, and has applauded the hospital for helping him pull through.

He said: “I can’t thank them enough for all they did for me, without them I’d be dead. It can kill you in a very short space of time if it’s just left. Don’t neglect it.”

Liz added: “He’s now doing very well at home, although he’s still under the hospital. They call it ‘hospital at home’, so he’s got a nurse coming in every so often as well as physio. He survived, but we know a lot of people haven’t. 

“He is still on oxygen, but it is lovely to have him back home. From the cleaners, the ambulance crews, all the way through to the consultants - absolutely everyone - we can’t sing their praises enough.

"They are working with PPE, the nurses doing 12 hour shifts and more, seeing more people die than they’re perhaps used to. They are heroes in our eyes.”