Great gran Jean beats virus
AGREAT-GREAT grandma from Stockport has fully recovered after spending two weeks in hospital battling coronavirus.
At one stage the family of Jean Horbury, 83, feared she wouldn’t make it when her condition rapidly deteriorated at Stepping Hill Hospital.
But just days later, on Easter Monday, the ‘strong, active’ retired factory worker was told she could go home after she recovered from the virus.
Now she is back in her south Reddish flat chatting away to her family on the phone and eating banana butties and chocolate fingers.
Jean, who has 10 greatgrandchildren and two great-great-grandchildren, was taken to A&E at Stepping Hill on Monday, March 30.
She had been feeling ill for several days, her granddaughter said.
Jean had lost her appetite and felt sick. Her spit had turned brown and she had a high temperature.
When she was taken into hospital she was tested for coronavirus.
She was taken to the Acute Medical Unit before being transferred to ward D2 (a specialist coronavirus ward).
She was diagnosed with pneumonia and a water infection.
By the Friday, the results from the coronavirus test had come back positive.
Jean’s condition deteriorated over the following days and at one stage the family received a call at 3am to say she needed full oxygen.
Her granddaughter Joanne Mcguire said: “I was preparing for the worst. (The medical team) told us she had deteriorated and they said that if she was going to beat the coronavirus that she would be given Palliative care.
“Everyone was upset.”
Miraculously, Jean’s condition began improving last week.
By Sunday (April 12) she was able to breathe without oxygen. really
The 83-year-old left hospital on Easter Monday.
Joanne said the family is really pleased that she’s back at home.
She added: “We couldn’t thank the nurses on the D2 ward enough. Mum said they were really nice ladies and really helped her.
“Yesterday she came home. She was talking normally, she didn’t seem poorly. She said ‘I’m feeling a lot better than I was’. You could hear it in her voice.
“I rang her this morning, she has had her Weetabix, banana butty and chocolate fingers. She’s back to herself.”
Joanne said that Jean was fit and well before falling ill with coronavirus. She would regularly be out and about.
She said: “She’s not been in hospital for 25 years. She used to go to Benidorm every year until her passport ran out. She used to meet her friend every Friday in the pub for half a lager. “
Joanne has a message for people who are flouting the social distancing rules during the lockdown.
“It’s just not worth it. Just keep yourself to yourself, don’t be out socialising, or having people round your house. We thought we wouldn’t see (Jean) again.”
Jean is part of a large, loving family - tragically her son Michael Horbury passed away in October last year at the age of 59.
Michael’s daughter, and Jean’s granddaughter, Claire Horbury added: “My grandma is still absolutely still heartbroken they used to see each other every week. “She is a strong lady. “She is out every day on the buses to Bury and Ashton - all over the show. Honestly without fail snow, wind, rain, she is out.
“This lockdown has really upset her, she can’t wait to get back to normal.”