MARK’S ‘MIRACLE’ RECOVERY
A ROUNDWOOD resident has defied all the odds and survived Covid-19 after his family were told he only had 24 to 48 hours to live.
Mark Burke, aged 47 and with no underlying health problems, spent close to four weeks in ICU in St Vincent’s Hospital after being diagnosed with Covid-19. At one stage his wife Joanne was told by Consultants that it would take ‘two miracles’ in order for Mark to pull-through after his condition rapidly deteriorated.
The Burke family - including Amy (26), Ryan (20), Erica (16) and Evan (15) - even said their final farewells to Mark after they were informed that nothing could be done for him, but remarkably he defied medical expectations and is back home being cared for by his relieved brood.
Joanne can’t praise the frontline staff at St Vincent’s enough for all their efforts. ‘When things were getting really bad Mark had to be paralysed and put on life-support. Basically he was being kept alive. The staff were astonishing and did everything they could. They gave him medicine for multiple sclerosis patients and treatments for AIDS patients. They basically threw everything at him to see what works.’
Joanne was informed that in nine to ten days it might be possible to wake Mark up, but with two days to go his condition suddenly deteriorated rapidly and she was contacted by the Hospital and told her husband might have sepsis.
She feared the worst when she received another call from the hospital four hours later.
‘They asked me if anyone was with me and I immediately thought Mark had died. I thought we had lost him. I was creaming down the phone “Is he still with us?”. I was told a blood clot had shot off and diseased his small bowel. They couldn’t stabilise him and I was told we all need to say our goodbyes as he only had 24 to 48 hours to live. We were all devastated. It was so hard on everyone but the children were all amazing. We all said goodbye to Mark privately. I still don’t know what the children told him and I don’t want to know. That was their own private moment with him. Even the nurses and doctors were bawling crying. He had Covid pneumonia and an ischemic bowel and there was nothing they could do for him, but they just wouldn’t give up.’
However, Mark went on to survive for far longer than predicted, leading to hopes that maybe ten per cent of his bowel could be saved if he became stable enough to operate on.
‘I remember asking does Mark need a miracle to pull through, and I was told it would take two miracles. The first miracle was he managed to last four days. The second miracle was that his bowel started to rejuvenate itself with the intervention he received. We thought he was gone but he kept fighting all the way.’
He wasn’t allowed any visitors while in St Vincent’s and was shocked when he finally woke up to find himself in ICU.
Joanne recalls: ‘When he awoke he didn’t really know what was going on.
All he could see were these face masks with eyes peering down on him. He was wondering why everyone was dressed as an alien. He had no notion what was going on and there were no family members there to reassure him.’
Now Mark’s medical records are going to be used to assist other Covid-19 patients who develop an ischemic bowel.
‘The medical team at St Vincent’s were amazed and totally shocked at his recovery. He had recovered to such a degree that he didn’t require an operation any more. They asked to release Marks’ medical records so they could be shared with other medical teams around the world. Now what Mark has gone through is giving loads of hope to other Covid-19 patients going through the same thing with an ischemic bowel. It’s so heart-warming that Mark didn’t go through this for nothing and that other patients will be saved as a result. He is such a kind, caring and generous person. If anyone deserved to beat all the odds, it’s Mark.’
The Burke family are extremely grateful for all the support they received from the local Roundwood community. They have set up a Go Fund Me campaign at in aid of the frontline staff at St Vincent’s called www.gofundme.com/f/front-lineheroes. Joanne said: ‘We saw first-hand just how the hospital staff are trying to cope. They are amazing and doing such a wonderful job but they are so under-equipped. They saved the life of Mark so we want to help out in any way we can.’