Covid-19 survivor: I thought I’d hurt my back... soon I was close to death:
TAXI DRIVER ON DEBT TO HIS SON AND NHS STAFF WHO SAVED HIM
A TAXI driver has paid an emotional tribute to the medics who saved his life after he contracted Covid-19.
And Brian Davies had special thanks for his son Aron who realised his dad was seriously ill and called an ambulance.
At the end of March the 69-year-old wasn’t feeling very well with a very sore back, but it turned out he was suffering from the killer virus and he was rushed by ambulance to Ysbyty Gwynedd, Bangor.
As his condition deteriorated he became the first person to be treated in the hospital’s intensive care unit for Covid-19.
After three weeks in hospital he was discharged and is now recovering at his home in Holyhead, Anglesey.
He told the Daily Post: “I’ve been home for a fortnight. I’m feeling quite sore, my back is very, very sore but otherwise getting there slowly.”
He has little recollection of his time in hospital and says: “I was unconscious for three weeks then they moved me upstairs [from ICU] to the ward,” he added.
When he was taken from the high dependency unit to the general ward medical staff and others lined the corridor and applauded.
Brian said: “Hearing the applause was quite embarrassing really.
“I wasn’t expecting it. When they brought me from high dependency unit they asked me if I minded it being filmed and they lined the corridor and all the nurses and staff applauded me going up and that was embarrassing.
“And of course when I was leaving to come out in the wheelchair that was quite embarrassing too. I didn’t expect that.”
But he is full of praise for the effort made by the medical staff at the hospital.
“There’s not enough room in my heart for them fair play. What they did for me was unbelievable and I have nothing but admiration for them.
“Honest to God they’ve done a wonderful job with me.
“The doctor, because I was close to death, brought me through it.
“They couldn’t do enough for me.
“From what I can remember I was treated like a star, like a film star, honestly they really, really did,” he said.
As for Aron his dad said: “I can’t thank him enough. Without
my son I don’t think I’d be here today to tell the truth.
“If I’d have left it any longer I don’t know what would have happened. I’ve got nothing but admiration for him.”
Brian said he had delivered some shopping to a lady in Trearddur Bay and simply thought he had just twisted his back and called Aron, who lives and works in Portmouth, telling him he thought he had pulled a muscle in his back.
The former Stena Line worker, said: “I’d called him and told him my back was hurting.
“I’d delivered some shopping to this lady in Trearddur Bay and I thought I’d twisted my back and I phoned Aron and he must have thought it a bit more serious so he phoned the ambulance and it came here.”
Born and bred in Holyhead Brian has been a taxi driver for about 12 years. But he accepts it’s going to be a while before he gets back behind the wheel of the taxi.
“I’m missing being out and about in the taxi but at the moment there’s not a lot of work around because of what’s happened with the lockdown.
“The customers I had are really fantastic. I’ve had a phone call from Spain.
“A lady I picked up a couple of years ago, she’s from Holyhead originally but now living in Spain.
“She arrived on one of the cruise ships that call into Holyhead and she heard I’d been poorly and she called to wish me all the best and hope I get better soon and that was nice,” he said.
Once he’s back “up and running” Brian hopes to do some fundraising for the NHS and staff at Ysbyty Gwynedd.