Covid patient's emotional reunion with nurse
BBCA man who nearly died from Covid has had an emotional reunion with the nurse who cared for him.
Dominic Cox, 26, from West Bromwich, returned to the former critical care unit at Sandwell General Hospital to meet Sister Jo Cella.
"My Dommy," she sobbed as she threw her arms around him, making up for the hugs not allowed during the pandemic. "It makes me cry, every time I see him. I love to see him, and to see how he was and how he is now is just a miracle," she said.
Dominic, who fell ill during the second wave of the pandemic in late 2020, was in intensive care for three months.
He said: "It's so nice to see [Jo} again. She looked after me so much during my time here. She looked after my mum as well, mum would call every morning to get updates and Jo would always be the one to pick up the phone."
Jo, 53, who has been a nurse for 34 years, explained: "I have a son the same age, same name, I looked after [Dominic] like I would want someone to look after my son and my relative. And that's how I've always been throughout my nursing career."
During his illness, Dominic's mum, Heather Clarke, wasn't allowed to visit for seven weeks due to Covid restrictions. But when the hospital feared he might die, they allowed her in.
Heather explained: "Part of me didn't want to [visit] because as long as they were saying you can't see him, you can't come and visit, I knew there was a chance. But at that time, because of Covid, if you were told you could come and visit, it was for a last goodbye."
She paused, tearfully: "So coming down, was bitter sweet."
Despite the two women not having previously met in person, they instinctively felt a connection.
Jo said: "She was standing at the door, and said, 'You're Jo,' and I said, 'You're Heather, come and see your son.'
"I am convinced that Heather's presence, even though Dominic wasn't completely aware that she was here, had some bearing on his recovery."
Heather said: "I will never ever be able to repay what they did for me and for our family. They saved my son. Jo, and every other member of staff at that time, they fought for my son and my son's still here because of them."
Thousands of people went to both Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals with symptoms of Covid during the pandemic, with 650 ending up in intensive care. Of those, half died, according to Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust.
Senior Sister Catherine Beddowes, who also remembers Dominic, said: "For me being with a patient at end of life has always been a privilege, and being part of that journey with a family and a patient is so important.
"We weren't able to give that during Covid. Death happened so quickly, families weren't there. Holding a patient's hand as they died with a family watching through a video link was heartbreaking."
The critical care unit has since moved to the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital in Smethwick, making the reunion at the Sandwell even more emotional.
Five years on, Dominic still suffers with long Covid but is gradually improving.
"I'm doing better, when I woke up I couldn't move anything because of nerve damage and muscle waste from being in a coma for so long.
"I couldn't talk because I was on a ventilator so I had to learn to talk again, use my hands again."
Now 26, he hopes to start the master's degree he had planned to do before he got ill.
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