‘Miracle Mal’ and family grateful for Christmas he did not expect to see
A FATHER who became known as “Miracle Mal” has told how he was forced to have several fingers amputated and lost vision in one eye after spending 61 days on a ventilator fighting coronavirus.
Mal Martin, 58, was given an “almost zero” chance of survival when he was admitted to the Princess of Wales Hospital in Bridgend in March.
The businessman, who runs a recruitment firm in South Wales, began experiencing cold-like symptoms the day before Boris Johnson announced the first national lockdown, but was soon bedbound with a fever.
Ten days later Mr Martin’s breathing became rapid and he was admitted to hospital, where he was placed in an induced coma.
Weeks later, Mr Martin’s wife, Sue, 49, revealed in an interview with the BBC that she and her two children, Hana, 16, and William, 14, had said what they thought was their final goodbyes in a 10-minute phone call.
Mrs Martin, a civil servant, said her family existed in a “sickening limbo and nightmarish rollercoaster ride” over the next six weeks, with doctors saying her husband had between a 10 and 20 per cent chance of pulling through.
Although Mr Martin made a “miracle” recovery, his bout of the virus has had have lifelong consequences.
He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme yesterday that he had suffered permanent vision loss in his right eye and is in need of a kidney transplant.
Mr Martin said: “I can only walk so far, I’m having lots of dizziness, I’ve got problems with my lungs. My kidneys are only running at 12 per cent at the moment and it’s just been horrific, really. I need to either go on dialysis for the rest of my life, or a kidney transplant.
“I’ve lost vision in my right eye, which I’ll never get back, and I’ve had amputations on my hands – I’ve lost my thumb from on my one hand and I’ve lost a forefinger, and a half a finger and my thumb is going to come off my right hand.”
Speaking about how the family has coped since he returned from hospital, Mrs Martin said: “It has brought us all closer together, I think it totally highlights what the priorities are and what is important and what is not important.
“Our aims for life are very different now. We just want a quiet life, a simple life, stress-free as possible.”
“We are getting there and we know that we still have a lot of challenges ahead but we are adjusting and we are just incredibly grateful that he is here.
“We are acutely aware that a lot of people are not as fortunate as us and they are going to have a very, very different Christmas. We are just very happy that we will be able to celebrate together, It’s still tough but it could have been so much worse.”
Mr Martin said he hoped people would “take heed” of his experience and understand the danger of the virus.
“I was healthy and running 5k and now I can’t do any of it and it is going to take me a long time to get back to that,” he said.
Mrs Martin has raised more than £14,000 in a “Miles for Mal” campaign to refurbish the intensive care unit at the Princess of Wales Hospital.