AFTER KIDNEY TRANSPLANT, THE VIRUS … AND THEN A MIRACULOUS RECOVERY

THOUSANDS watched with bated breath as 48-year-old Hussein opened his eyes – having spent three weeks on a ventilator, fighting for his life.

The remarkable moment was captured on camera, as part of BBC2’s fly-on-the-wall documentary, Hospital.

The father-of-three had a kidney transplant back in mid-March – putting him in the category of patients with only a 30 per cent chance of survival should they catch Covid-19.

Tragically, just two weeks after surgery, he was back at the Royal Free Hospital in London with the virus.

With his lungs failing to respond to oxygen, doctors had no choice but to put him on a ventilator. He was also given the experimental drug Anakinra, which fights inflammation caused by the immune system.

Against all odds, Hussein began to improve. And at the end of week three, doctors woke him up – and removed the ventilator. He was discharged at the beginning of May and is now recovering at home. ‘It’s a miracle,’ says Hussein’s wife Andrea, who is thrilled the couple can finally celebrate their ten-year wedding anniversary.

Recalling the moment she was told Hussein might not make it, she says: ‘They told me they were going to try some medication that they didn’t expect to work.’

But his consultant Professor Alan Salama now says they are more hopeful: ‘Drugs like Anakinra stop the immune system going into overdrive – and anecdotally are proving effective, but need to be tested in formal clinical trials.’