Mum and daughter to be reunited

Pair who fought Covid-19 in hospital at the same time are finally getting back together after being apart for five exhausting weeks

A Dundee mum and daughter who battled to survive Covid-19 at the same time will be reunited tomorrow after five emotional and exhausting weeks apart.

Anne Wicker, 62, and Sheila Wicker, 84, were taken to Ninewells Hospital days apart last month but are now on the road to recovery.

The virus was so severe for Anne that she needed therapy to walk again.

Despite being just a stone’s throw from each other throughout most of their time fighting the virus, they could not see or speak to each other.

At the start of April, Anne suddenly noticed her mum – with whom she lives and cares for – was struggling with her balance.

She went to sit down one day but missed the seat, fell and was rushed to hospital.

Just days later, Ann also began to feel unsteady on her feet and crashed to the floor with nobody in the home to help her.

“It took me about three hours to get to the phone to call 999,” Anne said.

“Even then, I didn’t think it would be Covid-19. It was a shock when I found out we both had it.

“As my mum is 84, I was really worried about her and obviously worried for myself too.”

The pair, originally from Lancashire, who are both partially sighted because of glaucoma, did not experience the common symptoms associated with coronavirus.

While in hospital, neither had any difficulty breathing or suffered from a fever.

Sheila quickly made huge strides in her recovery and was moved to Roxburghe House at Royal Victoria Hospital to continue resting before being allowed home last week.

Meanwhile, after a week at Ninewells, Anne was moved to the Centre for Brain Injury Rehabilitation (CBIR) just metres away from Roxburghe House.

She said: “We still couldn’t see each other although we’d managed to speak on the phone.

“A lot of my problems actually started after I moved from Ninewells. I had problems with my lungs and I had some breathlessness – although they don’t know if that was actually Covid-19,”

Thanks to the “marvellous” care of those in Ninewells and the staff at CBIR, Anne will be allowed home tomorrow to see her mum for the first time since April 7.

She says her recovery is down to the determination and encouragement of the occupational therapists and physiotherapists at CBIR.

But she warned others to stick to the Scottish Government’s clear stay at home message as the threat of the virus is still very real.

“These people are putting their lives on the line every day,” she said.

“It took me about three hours to get to the phone to call 999. Even then, I didn’t think it would be Covid-19. ANNE WICKER