Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
Dad, 32, out of hospital after three-month Covid battle
A32-year-old who spent three months fighting for his life after catching Covid while unvaccinated is out of hospital at last.
Olly Toole, from Sturry, near Canterbury, is urging people to take the virus seriously after it made him so gravely ill he was placed in a coma.
His partner, Cheryl Waters, who was pregnant when Olly became unwell, was at one point told to say a final goodbye to him and feared their unborn daughter would grow up without a dad.
But after more than three months in hospital - in London and at Margate’s QEQM - the new dad was finally able to go home on March 23 - three days after their baby’s birth.
Olly, who had no underlying health conditions, tested positive for Covid in December and immediately felt ill.
His condition deteriorated and he found it hard to breathe, so the couple dialled 999 and he was rushed to the QEQM by ambulance.
Olly, who works in digital construction design, said: “At first I thought it would go away but it just got worse.
“When I got to hospital, the doctors said my oxygen levels were low and my blood pressure wasn’t great either. But I still didn’t think it was that serious.
“I was taken to intensive care but I wasn’t on a ventilator so I thought I was improving, but on Boxing Day things started going downhill.”
Olly was transferred to a specialist ward at St Thomas’s Hospital in London, where blood was pumped to a machine that removes carbon dioxide, with oxygen-filled blood being sent
back to his body.
Cheryl, 30, who also tested positive but recovered well, said: “The hospital called me on Boxing Day to say he was going on a ventilator and they held the phone to his ear for about 10 seconds so I could talk to him.
“It was horrendous, but thankfully he doesn’t remember it.
“It seems everyone has an opinion, because Olly hadn’t got round to getting his vaccination, but there were people on that ward in London who were vaccinated and had the booster and they were still there.”
Olly spent four weeks in hospital in London before being transferred back to intensive care at the QEQM.
He was unable to speak because he had a tube in his throat to help him breathe, and also couldn’t stand or walk.
Olly suffered internal bleeding and infections which slowed his recovery down and left him feeling frustrated.
He said: “The last thing I remember is thinking I was getting better, then suddenly I woke up and I couldn’t talk, or eat or drink. I had to mouth what I wanted to say and it was quite hard for people to understand, so it was frustrating.”
Reflecting on the ordeal Cheryl, 30, said: “When I first found out I was pregnant, never in my wildest dreams did I think this would happen.
“If I think back to everything we have been through it seems almost unreal. I was seven months pregnant when I had to go to London to say my goodbyes – that was the hardest day of my life.
“The ward was full of other men his age in the same situation – it was heartbreaking to think of those other families having to live through what I was experiencing.
“I thought it was just old people who got really ill from Covid – I never thought it would affect Olly like it has.
“It was really hard to hear everyone talking about how the virus has gone away and we need to get back to life as it was before, when he was so ill in hospital.”
The couple’s baby daughter, Lily, was born at the QEQM where Olly was still receiving treatment.
They are now adjusting to life as a family, while Olly continues his recovery.
Olly said: “Having Lily has definitely given me extra motivation – once she was born I was desperate to go home.
“I had to have a bed downstairs for a while but now I can go upstairs and I’m getting stronger every day.
“The physios have been fantastic and now I just want to look forward and be able to do more with Lily as she grows.”
Cheryl has also thanked staff at both St Thomas’s and the QEQM. “They were so nice and supportive to both of us,” she said.
“They all went out of their way for us.”
Physiotherapist Abigail Pownall, who worked with Olly at the QEQM, says it was fantastic to see him progress from needing help to move his limbs to being able to walk out of hospital with crutches.
“Olly has worked so hard on his recovery and has really beaten the odds,” she said. “He is an inspiration to us all. “His determination to get home to Cheryl and Lily was amazing.
“When Olly was first able to sit on the edge of the bed in intensive care, he found soaking his feet in warm water helped with the loss of sensation.
“He helped us secure funding from the League of Friends of the QEQM for a foot spa which can be used for other patients.
“Olly is continuing to progress with his physiotherapy at home and has been referred to the long Covid clinic to continue to manage his symptoms.”