‘Hero’ great-grandad goes back home after winning virus battle
THE family of a ‘hero’ great- grandfather who beat coronavirus have thanked Macclesfield Hospital staff saying ‘ he wouldn’t still be here without you’.
Raymond Lancaster, 70, has underlying health issues and had been fighting Covid-19 at the hospital for four weeks.
He was first admitted on March 21 after he cut his head in a fall and tested positive for coronavirus while being treated for the wound.
He was transferred to a special coronavirus ward and underwent oxygen treatment.
At one point his family did not believe he would make it as he suffers from COPD and has an aneurysm on his aorta.
He was being treated with the maximum amount of oxygen over four weeks due to a build up of fluid on his lungs.
However, over the last week doctors have been able to reduce the amount of oxygen needed and Raymond has returned home to Congleton.
Raymond’s family say a junior doctor told them they were surprised he managed to beat the virus, as they were expecting to tell them to prepare for the worst.
Raymond’s
daughter,
Helen Ijichi, said she will be forever grateful to the NHS workers at Macclesfield hospital for their dedication in helping her dad to recover.
According to Raymond, a retired printing press worker, nobody has passed away from the virus on the ward with large numbers of people pulling through.
Helen, 47, said: “He has been ill for nearly five weeks. He hasn’t seen anyone else. At first it was awful. He went in for treatment for his head, he had no belongings.
“His mobile was starting to die. I couldn’t speak to him. It was horrendous.
“I managed to go there after a week and a half, I took a charger in for him. I was not able to see him, I passed some items to the ward.
“My brother died in October last year of hospital-acquired pneumonia, they said there is a chance of him acquiring pneumonia. I thought - not again.”
Helen said all of her friends have been rooting for Raymond on social media and people who do not even know him have passed on messages of support.
She said: “I can’t tell you how grateful I am, the fact he is going home. I was just like ‘wow’.
“I will go and wave to him from a safe distance. He is a bit of a hero. People have died from lesser complications.
“I want to thank the Macclesfield Ward 12 staff for their hard work. Without them, I doubt we would be welcoming our dad, grandfather and great grandfather home.”
An East Cheshire NHS Trust spokesperson said: “Thanks to our dedicated and professional staff a high number of patients have been successfully discharged from the ward and we are delighted that Mr Lancaster is among them.”
As of Saturday, April 25, East Cheshire NHS Trust, which covers hospitals in Macclesfield, Congleton and Knutsford, had recorded 64 coronavirus related deaths.
And the number of confirmed cases in the larger area of the borough of Cheshire East stood at 782 on Monday, April 27.