A pub landlady has finally been able to return home after fighting for her life in hospital.

Husband Andy Cowell, who runs The Fenn Bell Inn, in Fenn Street, Hoo, shared the good news after his wife Kelly battled with health problems for 14 months.

He was out in his safari truck when he got a call from Kelly on Good Friday last year, where her voice was slurred, prompting him to rush home and find her collapsed with one arm paralysed and her face drooping on one side.

The 54-year-old called an ambulance and paramedics first thought she had had a panic attack.

But while in the ambulance, Kelly had a second stroke and was rushed to a specialist unit at St Thomas' Hospital in London.

She was discharged after a few days, but three weeks later the 48-year-old had another stroke and doctors discovered she had a faulty mitral valve in her heart, which required major open heart surgery.

The same thing happened again three months later as the valve, which is between the left atrium and the left ventricle of the heart, became loose and Kelly was once again taken ill and ended up on the operating table.

Andy says she bounced back each time but when the same thing happened again in April things took a turn for the worse.

"The valve failed again and this time it caused major kidney and liver failure," Andy explained. "She also suffered a blood clot."

Kelly was put on a life support machine and was unconscious for 12 days.

But after a five-month battle, Kelly was finally discharged and returned home on Tuesday.

An emotional Andy said: “It is amazing and we are very pleased she is back home and doing well. We are very positive and so are the doctors, hopefully, this will be the last time she needs the operation.

“I feel like I am a complete person again because she is home. We have got through the worst of it.

“We were told many times over the past five months that she was not going to get through the night. It takes a lot out of you having to tell your children their mum might not make it.”

Kelly is on the road to recovery and is still having check-ups at home while having lots of rest.

And although the pair face challenges and changes with Kelly’s recovery, they are both determined to get through it.

“It is going to be a long healing process,” Andy added. “But if we can get through what we have, we can get through this.

“We can have a good life together. It is going to be a different life but that does not mean we cannot have one and enjoy ourselves.

“It was my birthday the day after she came out of hospital so we went to Folkestone. We sat down on the beach and had fish and chips in the sun together and that was just amazing.

“It is quite incredible, we all sat there crying. It was just lovely to do something together that we once took for granted.”

He paid thanks to the NHS team at the hospital and everyone else who has reached out to him with their messages of support and experiences.

Andy added: “I have learnt many lessons over the last 14 months but two words stick out are hope and belief. I know many of you are facing loved ones in the hospital, do not ever lose hope and believe in yourself that you can meet the challenge and beat it.”

The couple have been together for 33 years and have two children, Jordan, 28 and Sydney, 21.