Mother hospitalised with Covid grateful for support

A mother hospitalised with Covid has thanked the local community for helping her family and keeping her shop business afloat.

Ursula Wick, 38, from Swindon is unvaccinated and was in intensive care at Great Western Hospital last year.

Friends and local charities organised food and Christmas presents for her children when they were told she may not pull through.

Mrs Wick says she is still unsure about having a jab, despite her experience.

The NHS says getting vaccinated offers the best protection against becoming seriously ill with Covid.

Adam Finn, the head of the Bristol Children's Vaccine Centre, said: "We know these vaccines are really effective at preventing serious illness and serious illness is what's paralysing our society at the moment."

• How do we know Covid vaccines are safe?

She was put on a ventilator in October and stayed in intensive care for three weeks. She has little memory of being taken to hospital.

She said: "The only recollection I've got really is, well, walking and seeing (the paramedics), walking down the stairs and out to the ambulance and seeing my youngest son looking out of the window.

"Then next thing I know, I'm waking up in intensive care, because I see this giant big mask coming towards my face and I started panicking.

"It was one of the hardest physical and mental fights I ever had to do and it still haunts me now."

Friends and family helped with Christmas presents

Friends of Ursula helped to run her shop, Daisy & Daisy, in Swindon and dropped round Christmas presents for her boys while her husband was also self-isolating with Covid.

One of those who helped, Anna, said lots of people in the community rallied round and even her partner was cleaning and stacking shelves.

She said: "It was great for loads of people in Swindon to be like that, it really opened our eyes to (the kindness), there's a lot of very kind people out there."

Ursula says she is grateful for all the support her family received while she was in hospital.

She said: "It's just bringing me back to tears when I think about how generous our community is and how wonderful the people are that are in it."

Ursula is now back at home, on oxygen, with her husband, Rob and her boys, Aaron, 12, and nine-year-old Andrew.