‘MIRACLE MAN’ BEAT THE ODDS
FAMILY WERE TOLD THERE WAS LITTLE HOPE FOR DROGHEDA MAN WHO SUFFERS FROM LUNG PROBLEMS - BUT NOW HE’S HOME
MEET Patrick Bedford - a walking miraclewho has had COVID-19 for four weeks, spent 26 days in hospital, suffers from the lung disease Myastheniagravis and then came out of a seven-day coma after doctors had given him little hope of surviving.
His daughter, Grace, this week described her 72-year-old father as ‘a battler’ and admits that there are few medical reasons why he is alive today.
‘Even the doctors and nurses say he’s a miracle man,’ she said.
MEET Patrick Bedford - a walking miracle who has had COVID-19 for four weeks, spent 26 days in hospital, suffers from lung disease Myasthenia gravis and then came out of a seven-day coma after doctors had given him little hope of surviving.
His daughter, Grace, this week described her 72 year old father as ‘a battler’ and admits that there are few medical reasons why he is alive today. ‘Even the doctors and nurses say he’s a miracle man,’ she said.
Patrick’s journey began some weeks ago when he began to feel unwell.
He was diagnosed with Myasthenia gravis last year, impacting on his lungs, and it was feared that was playing up and causing issues.
He gradually got worse and had to be rushed to hospital and was diagnosed with COVID, a real shock for keen Bellewstown Golf Club member Patrick and the family.
After a day in hospital, he began to go downhill rapidly and was rushed to ICU, unable to breath, ‘I spoke to him on a Sunday evening and he said to me that he was dying. It broke my heart,’ Grace stated.
He was placed in a coma to give him a fighting chance and that’s where the incredible team in Our Lady of Lourdes came into their own.
Patrick formed a close bond with Dr Adam O’Brien from the moment he entered the place and he would later state that the last thing he recalled as he drifted into the coma was the feel of the doctor’s hand in his as he drifted off.
That doctor would come in to see him most days as that week went on, hoping and praying Patrick would pull through.
As the days passed, the nurses in the ICU, Sinead and Frances included, took to writing a log for each day. It is something the hospital introduced last year for coma patients.
‘ They wrote down what they would have said to dad if he’d been awake. How he was doing at that moment, telling him if someone rang, saying that they hoped he’d make it and to fight,’ Grace stated.
The nurses used iPads to facetime the family while Patrick was unconscious. They couldn’t come in to visit him, so the nurses made sure he visited them.
‘I’d get a bad feeling at 2am or 3am and I’d ring the ward and ask for dad and nothing was a chore for the nurses. They spoke to me, reassured me and said ring anytime. That was so wonderful for the family.’
Patrick’s consultant, Dr Richardo Bagina,
HE WAS PLACED IN A COMA TO GIVE HIM A FIGHTING CHANCE AND THAT’S WHERE THE INCREDIBLE TEAM IN OUR LADY OF LOURDES CAME INTO THEIR OWN.
played his part too, going above and beyond the call of duty, as did Miss Eleanor Faul.
He was in the extended part of the ICU and only for the preparation the hospital put in in advance of all of this, he would not have had a bed..
But the other parts of the team there also stepped forward, the cleaning and household staff and the social workers.
‘Kim Martin was great. She was in contact with the nursing team and rang us twice a day to keep us informed.’
It was a tough time in particular for Patrick’s wife, Maria and the rest of the clan, Darren, Dwayne, Patrick, Niall and Maria, never mind the grandkids who were missing him.
A week later, Patrick was brought out of his coma, his oxygen was removed days later and although still weak, began to show signs of real improvement.
Last week, Patrick was discharged, returning to his Drogheda home but into isolation, as he is still testing positive for COVID a month after his initial diagnosis.
He remains a long way from full fitness and a walk down the 1st fairway, but that’s the goal and after his journey so far, it would take a brave man to bet against him.
‘His appetite has returned and that’s great,’ Grace remarks.
If there is a lesson to come from all of this, it’s hope, Grace feels.
Patrick is a man with an underlying health condition - a comment that that become synonymous in this COVID battle, but despite his issues, he showed the fight and determination to overcome all the obstacles. ‘ The hospital were wonderful and we can’t thank each and every person enough.
‘We have been thinking of giving them something to say thanks, but what do you give in a situation like this,’ Grace asks.
Maybe a victory like this is a prize that professionals in the medical game yearn for - and that’s enough.