At 6pm I had a bit of a sore throat and by 7pm I had a cough. At 8pm I could hardly breathe. It hit me so quickly
Stricken Sandra feared she wouldn’t make it through the night and recorded video for her husband as she battled killer bug. Now she’s urging others to heed lockdown rules
A WOMAN who was struck down with coronavirus made a desperate video recording for her husband because she feared she wouldn’t make it through the night. Struggling to breathe, Sandra McSorley – who has now been battling illness related to the virus for 13 weeks – recorded the message on her phone just hours after symptoms set in. Alone at home in Dumbarton, she said she thought she was doing to die. Sandra, 54, was later treated in hospital but has been left with a blood clot on her lung, migraines and fatigue. She has documented her recovery with videos and shared her story to stress the importance of following Government rules. Sandra, who fell ill on March 21, said: “I was eating my dinner at 6pm when I noticed I had a bit of a sore throat. At 7pm I had developed a cough and by 8pm I could hardly breathe. “It hit me so quickly. “My husband, Derek, was away with the TA. I spoke to him late at night and he couldn’t believe the state that I was in. “I left a message on my phone, in case anything happened to me. “I remember saying that I was frightened and worried. “It was a message for my husband more than anything else. I have deleted it since. “I honestly didn’t think I would make it through that first night.
“When the fever kicks in you just get lost in your thoughts and you don’t know what’s happening.”
After Derek returned to support his wife, the couple phoned NHS 24, which advised them to self-isolate for two weeks.
In videos posted on Facebook during that time, Sandra struggles for breath while pleading for people to stay at home and follow government advice, describing her situation as “hell on earth”.
A fortnight later, Sandra’s symptoms hadn’t improved. She said: “It got to the 12th day having been horrific the whole time and I started to feel a bit better. On the 13th day I was a bit better again,”
“Then on the 14th day that was it, it hit again.”
Another 11 days passed and Sandra started to deteriorate.
She said: “We phoned our GP and he gave me some steroids. It was a four or five-day course. At the end of that I was feeling a bit better, had one good day and then it started again.”
Sandra visited the Renton Covid assessment centre and was rushed to Paisley’s Royal Alexandra Hospital.
She said: “I was on oxygen and the respiratory nurse came in and took some blood.
“I was sent for a CT scan which came back showing I had a blood clot on my lung. It’s a pulmonary embolism, which they think is to do with the coughing from the Covid.
“There are studies that show that Covid can make your blood sticky and that’s what causes blood clots, so now I’m on blood thinners for that.
“Eventually I got a test, but the nurse said, ‘It was five weeks ago you first had Covid symptoms, so it won’t be in your system any more’. The test came back negative.”
“Now I’ve been left with chronic fatigue. I’m sleeping for 13 or 14 hours at a time.
“I’ve been left with really bad migraine type headaches and that’s all linked to the post-viral condition.”
Sandra’s personal battle has also left her furious at people flouting lockdown rules.
She said: “I feel like a lot of young people think they aren’t going to get it, but they forget that they can be carriers.
“They can take it in to their families and don’t realise that they’ve got it.
“You just don’t know where you can catch it and you don’t know who you can take it to.”