Covid coma patient praises intensive care unit 'angels'

Hayden and Catherynn Dunstan were together for more than 32 years

A Covid patient who came out of a month-long coma to find his wife had died with the virus has praised the NHS "angels" who supported him.

Hayden and Catherynn Dunstan, from Wigton, Cumbria, fell ill in October.

Both required intensive care - he was treated at Carlisle's Cumberland Infirmary, while she was transferred to Newcastle's Royal Victoria Hospital.

Following her death he said the "wonderful staff" on the ward created a memory box for him and their two sons.

Mr Hayden, 48, was in a coma for 30 days, suffered multiple organ failure, and was on the brink of death on many occasions.

As well as a long recovery process, he has also struggled to come to terms with the death of his 51-year-old wife, but staff, he said, were always willing to support him.

The memory box included a lock of hair, a print of Mrs Dunstan's hand and two knitted hearts

"I wasn't just a patient number - they made me feel like a friend," he said.

"Nothing was too much trouble - they would come over and sit with me, just for a talk, and listen to me cry.

"Often it should have been their break and they could have gone for a cup of tea, but they stayed with me when they didn't have to.

"While I was there I saw their exhaustion - they work so hard, such long hours, like machines, they really cared about me as a person.

"I never saw their faces as they mostly had masks on, but I remember seeing their eyes, their beautiful eyes.

"Eyes show you what's real or just put on, and I could tell they were genuinely caring.

"They didn't get cross with me, even on the times I was grumpy and didn't want to engage."

Mr Dunstan, who had been in a family band with his wife, has had to undergo physiotherapy to walk again, but said staff were patient and took note of his priorities.

"What I really wanted first was to be able to do some work on my business, sign some legal papers", he said.

"They took note of that, and brought me a pen which they'd put tape around to thicken so my fingers could hold it."

The couple were keen amateur performers

He also paid tribute to the staff at the unit in Newcastle.

"They were wonderful to my wife too - at the end they held her hand and played music to her," he said.

"And the memory box they made for me and my boys - it makes me cry - but I'm so glad we've got it."

The box - made for Mr Dunstan and the couple's sons Nathan, 17, and Conah, 20 - includes a lock of her hair, a hand print, a candle and a packet of forget-me-knot seeds.

There was also a message from staff, and a copy of her last ECG scan which he says he is going to get tattooed over his own heart.

When he left ICU, recovery ward staff lined up to form a "guard of honour" down the hallway, which he said was a "joyous moment".

"Angels walk among us, and you don't realise it until you reach the sharp edge of life, they are the difference between living and dying."

"They are the reason my two sons still have a father, I'll be eternally grateful to them."