Marion: I owe my life to NHS
A grandmother who became the first person in Sunderland to be diagnosed with coronavirus has said she owes her life to the NHS as she describes her “nightmare” fight for survival.
Marion Jolliff, 62, from Pennywell, was in a coma for more than a fortnight after she was taken to South Tyneside District Hospital in early March.
Her family were unable to visit her after she tested positive for coronavirus and had to rely on telephone updates from the hospital.
After spending four weeks in hospital the grandmother was allowed home on Tuesday, April 7.
She is slowly regaining her strength but remains clueless as to how she contracted Covid-19.
Marion said: “I have been home a week now and since then every day has been a learning curve.
“I am learning everything right from the beginning and I am now walking using a zimmer frame.
“I have been over the moon just being able to open the likes of a packet of crisps.
“It has just been a nightmare and it is going to be a long recovery.”
Marion does not remember the run-up to going into hospital or any of the four weeks receiving care.
And sadly it was only after she came home that Marion learned her brother Joe Jenkins, 65, of the Ford Estate, had died following his own battle with the illness.
She said: “I never even knew I was in hospital and it was a week before I was told about my brother. Joe was a lovely lad and would do anything for anybody.”
His funeral will be held at Sunderland Crematorium on Tuesday, April 21 but just eight family members can attend. The devoted grandmother also missed her granddaughter’s wedding in March.
But Marion couldn’t be more grateful to the NHS, saying that said she owes her life to the ‘fantastic” staff who cared for her at South Tyneside District Hospital.
“The NHS staff were fantastic, the couldn’t do enough for me,” she said.
“They are so dedicated – I have never known a hospital like it. If it was not for them I wouldn’t have survived.”
And Marion made sure to show her appreciation for their life-saving work when she took part in the NHS clap on Thursday after returning home from hospital.