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A grandad and his family have thanked the NHS "angels" who battled to save his life after he was struck down by coronavirus.
Roy Ives, 76, from Goodwood Close, High Halstow was taken into Medway Maritime Hospital last Friday, and his family were told that night to prepare for the worst.
Thanks to the efforts of NHS doctors and nurses he was able to pull through despite suffering from a number of underlying health issues, and is now back home recovering.
Yesterday, retired postman Roy recorded a special thank you message to everyone at Medway Maritime Hospital, saying: "I wanted to say thank you to all the staff on Medical HDU ward at Medway hospital, especially thanks to Dr Hetti and all the nurses that took such good care of me.
"The fact I am 76 with lots of underlying health issues, your care and attention got me through.
"I am unable to recognise all of you because of the protection masks you wear, but to me they are all angels and I would recognise their voices. Thank you for everything you have done for me and you'll never be out of my thoughts."
Granddaughter Scarlett Walsh, 23, from nearby Willowbank Drive, described how a worrying situation had developed quickly into a life and death battle within the space of a few hours - but said Roy's story might hopefully stand as inspiration from others living in fear of the virus.
"He's getting there, bless him, it's going to be a good couple of weeks," she said. "Last week he just felt a bit poorly, but on the Friday he was struggling to breathe, so we called him an ambulance. The paramedics turned up and they said they were confident it was Covid-19 so they took him straight in.
"The consultant called us at 5.30pm and said he's in a really critical way. He said he was positive it was Covid-19 and he said he's not responding to any treatment.
"They said they weren't going to ventilate him because he was past the point of that helping him – it was horrific – but they treated him with another machine.
"The consultant said 'we're doing everything we can but he's in a really grave condition and if this doesn't work there's nothing more we can do'.
"He said 'to be frank, we need to prepare you for the worst, and he may not make it through the night'."
Among the worst aspects of the situation was that Roy's wife Marjorie, 80, had to self isolate at home, so could not be comforted by family members, let alone see her husband.
"You can't do anything," added Scarlett. "You can't see him to say goodbye – it was horrific.
"We didn't sleep that night. From our perspective, it sounds bad but we were waiting for that phone call – when you're in that situation your whole world is turned upside down.
"The turnaround was when we had a phone call from the consultant on Saturday morning and he said he was really pleasantly surprised because grandad had responded to treatment."
"He was shocked at how well he had done. He said he was still critical and the next 24 hours were crucial but he had pulled through the night."
Another turning point followed on Sunday, when doctors were able to reduce Roy's oxygen levels, and he began making fantastic progress – until he was eventually allowed home on Thursday.
Scarlett added: "He developed pneumonia, which is quite common with Covid-19, but the hospital has said he has come through the worst of Covid-19 and doesn't need support with his breathing.
"It's just rest now. He's very overwhelmed by it all – within the space of five hours it completely changed. He was sitting in his lounge and the next thing he was going to die.
"The response has been lovely - he can't speak more highly of the nurses, but it's difficult to say thank you so we recorded a message for them.
"We just want to say how amazing the NHS is, and all the doctors and nurses. We couldn't go and see him so they were keeping us updated – they were amazing and there's no more they can do. We wanted to say thank you and we wanted to let people know what happened because I think there's a lot of older people with underlying health conditions who are worried."
