Queen's Birthday Honours: Caroline Coster awarded MBE

Caroline Coster (fourth from right), pictured in 2018 with women she had helped become mentors for business start-ups in Utange, Mombassa

A teacher and charity worker who lost her hands and feet after Covid-19 led to sepsis says she is thrilled her MBE honours her work before she became ill.

Caroline Coster, 58, had a life-changing operation last summer after spending weeks in intensive care at Bedford Hospital.

The retired teacher has been awarded an MBE for services to education in the county and to charity in Africa.

"It's lovely that it recognises that time before," she said.

"The way I am now, it's just a continuation of how I was then, I am still the same person.

"This is recognition for 34 years in teaching and the 10 years of fundraising."

The former teacher has done charity work in Kenya for the Make a Difference Foundation

While in recovery from Covid-19, the mother-of-two developed sepsis - an extreme reaction to infection that causes vital organs to shut down.

She almost died twice while in a medically-induced coma.

She recovered, but her hands and feet had been deprived of blood and had to be amputated.

While in hospital, she posted videos on Facebook to let everyone know of her progress, and to urge people to donate to Bedford Hospital or the Utange Primary School in Mombasa.

Before the pandemic she had raised £40,000 to help women in Kenya set up their own businesses, and also upcycled old jeans into bags and other creations for charity sales.

"A week from now, last year, I had my legs amputated, and if you go back a year from that I was leading up to the school reports and sports day.

"It's amazing what can happen in a year."

Mrs Coster's family was twice told to say goodbye to her, but she survived

Other local recipients in the Queen's Birthday Honours include Cranfield University's Prof Helen Atkinson, who has received a damehood for services to engineering and education.

"For someone from my background, with both parents leaving school at 16 and as the first in my family to go to university, this is a most amazing thing," she said.

Paul Latimer, 60, who moved into a homeless shelter in Leighton Buzzard, Bedfordshire, during lockdown to ensure it could continue to operate, has been given a British Empire Medal for services to the community during Covid-19.

Luton mayor Maria Lovell, who in 2019 became the first woman of Ghanian descent to be elected to Luton Borough Council, has received the MBE for services to the African community in Bedfordshire during Covid-19.

Volunteer Geoffrey Apperley, 72, of Royston, Hertfordshire, ensured more than 10,000 Royal Naval Association members - most of whom were in the at-risk category for Covid-19 - were contacted and could easily get support during the pandemic.

He has received the British Empire Medal for voluntary service in support of naval veterans during Covid-19.