It’s so nice to see you again!
Cataract patient is reunite with nurse who helped sa his life after Covid struck
ARECORD-BREAKING Consett weightlifter who almost died due to Covid-19 was stunned to be reunited with one of the nurses who helped save his life back then when he went to get his cataracts removed.
Alan Turner has previously spoken about how close he came to death during the early days of the pandemic.
The former World Champion
Powerlifter spent months in hospital in 2020 - with Covid leading to multiple organ failure, pneumonia and sepsis.
While he was at the University Hospital of North Durham, nurse Stephanie Routledge was among the theatre team who helped look after him.
Alan spent around two months in intensive care in Durham and was then transferred to the Freeman in Newcastle, where complications kept him in hospital for months.
Alan is a World Powerlifting Champion, and since his Covid
ordeal he has made a remarkable recovery - but his eyesight had worsened and got to the stage where he couldn’t drive.
And when he went for his surgery he was stunned to see Steph again, years on from his near-death experience.
Alan, in his 60s, said: “I was very ill and hospitalised for a long time. Nine weeks in the ICU in Durham followed by six months at the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle during which time I experienced pneumonia, sepsis and total organ failure.
“I could not swallow or eat and had to learn to walk again. Twice, the hospital team called my wife to say that I wasn’t going to make the next 24 hours. Death was very close several times, but thanks to the medical teams who cared for me, I feel I was literally brought back to life. It was wonderful to meet with Steph, as one part of the team, and be able to thank her for her contribution to my care.”
Gym-owner Alan recalled how he had felt like a “frail old man” and that being ill had been “horrendous and so soul-destroying”. More recently though, in 2023 he noticed his vision deteriorating.
He said: “I wondered if it was something to do with the weightlifting, as there is a lot of pressure on the head and eyes, which are often red and bloodshot. I had been told a few years ago that I had cataracts but they weren’t really bothering me, so I left it.”
But when he was told not to drive, he acted and was referred to surgery - and that’s when he met Steph once again. He said: “I was blown away when I saw that Steph was working at Optegra and once again looking after me. I never expected to see her again, let alone at the eye clinic!
“It has been so lovely to personally thank her for caring for me then, I am forever in debt to her and her colleagues and will never forget what the whole team have done for me.
“I also want to thank everyone at
Optegra, the staff are all fantastic and have looked after me from the second I walked in to the second I left. What an amazing place.”
He said the treatment had been “unreal”, too - and that he felt like, in the eye that has been treated so far, it was like “4k vision”.
“I am so happy,” he said. “It has given me a huge lift and is the best thing I’ve ever done, alongside recovering from Covid!”
Steph said she too was stunned to see Alan again.
She said: “I recognized his name and thought, he’s the guy that had Covid in Durham.
“He was several months in hospital in a very serious condition, and I cared for him for around four weeks before he went on to a different hospital.
“It was lovely to see him looking so well.”
“It was such a surprise and a pleasure to see Mr Turner - and looking so healthy now, compared to when I was part of the team caring for him during Covid. He was so appreciative of the support he had received, as he really was very poorly.
“It is great to be able to care for him again now, and restore his vision through cataract surgery. He has had excellent outcomes and we are all so pleased to care for him.”
Alan had his cataract surgery at the Team Valley based Optegra Eye
Clinic. The team there carry out both private and NHS treatments and people can be referred simply by seeing their optician.