I used to run twice a week. Now I need a mobility scooter
NATHALIE MACDERMOTT, 42, from cambridge, is a paediatric infectious diseases doctor. She says:
AT THE time of the pandemic, I was fit and active, running a couple of times a week. Now I can only walk with crutches. For longer distances, I need a mobility scooter.
I’ve been diagnosed with Covid-related myelopathy [spinal cord injury].
I’ve lost a lot of sensation, which has affected my bladder and my bowel, and I have frequent pain in my legs and feet. I know I contracted Covid at work because I had no exposure outside of it: I was living alone and driving to work. I even had my shopping delivered.
I think the first time I got Covid, in March 2020, was through sharing an office with a colleague who tested positive for the virus the next day. We weren’t permitted to wear surgical masks in office areas — it wasn’t considered necessary.
After two weeks off, I went back to work on a Covid ward in April. Despite all the kids testing positive for Covid, as well as some of their parents, we were only given blue surgical masks, a flimsy apron that just covers your torso and a pair of gloves.
National guidance to hospitals had changed in midMarch so only staff performing aerosol-generating procedures required full PPE, which meant those in intensive care.
There was huge concern among the staff, with different staff getting different levels of protection.
I tried to lobby for a higher grade PPE, but didn’t get far.
By mid-May I’d been arguing for five weeks and presented emerging evidence to a meeting of senior clinicians to show Covid was an airborne infection (which we now know it is).
I was told the evidence wasn’t good enough, and when I argued that until we knew better we should take a precautionary approach, I was shouted down by a senior doctor.
Two days later, I started to feel unwell with Covid symptoms again, including muscle aches and pains in the soles of my feet. I then developed the neurological problems that I have now.
After three months off, I gradually built up my hours working in research, then tried to return to a clinical role — but it nearly killed me.
I was exhausted and often in pain, my legs were very jerky, and fatigue exacerbated my cognitive function. I also got urinary tract infections and had Covid twice more.
So now I have a research role, working from home.
I still struggle because my ability to concentrate for prolonged stints is not the same as it used to be.
I’ve joined the group legal claim but, for me, it’s not really about money — it’s about learning lessons from the situation.
We’re still sending healthcare workers in to deal with Covid patients wearing blue surgical face masks. Why haven’t we changed the guidance?
I’m fairly certain that if there was a pandemic tomorrow of a different virus, we would make exactly the same mistakes again.