Covid-19: Essex man back home after two months in coma

Stuart Oakley said it had been the "worst thing" not to be able to see or speak to his partner Ali Littlejones after he spent two months in a coma

A man who spent two months in a coma after collapsing with Covid-19 said it has been "wonderful" to return home and be reunited with his partner.

Stuart Oakley, 55, of Wickford in Essex, was treated in hospital for more than four months and his family was warned twice that he might not survive.

After learning to walk again, doctors said he was fit enough to be discharged last month.

Mr Oakley said he was now recovering in "leaps and bounds".

The factory worker said he could not remember anything from the point when he was ferried to Basildon University Hospital on 30 October until he woke up nine weeks later from his induced coma.

He said his partner Ali Littlejones and his 76-year-old mother went through a "terrible time", which included being called to the hospital at 02:00 GMT to be told he might die.

"My dad died in September and six weeks afterwards I collapsed, so it was very difficult," said Mr Oakley.

"The first thing I remember was trying to ask the nurse for the date and she said it was 3 January."

Mr Oakley spent more than four months at Basildon University Hospital and Brentwood Community Hospital

He said recovering in hospital for the next two months without Ms Littlejones at his side had been the "worst thing", and he only saw her once due to Covid restrictions.

"When I woke up I'd had a tracheostomy [a surgical hole through the front of the neck and into the windpipe], so she would call on the phone, but I couldn't speak back to her," said Mr Oakley.

"I used to tap the phone to let her know I was there.

"I'd mouth to say goodbye and that I loved her and the nurse would tell her on the phone."

Mr Oakley said while he could not speak for four weeks, he was also so weak he could not lift a bed cover or switch on his phone.

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He said it had also been a strange experience to find there was a new US president and he received a shock about football.

"I thought why are West Ham doing so well?" joked the Hammers fan.

While he was now well enough to walk around his garden, Mr Oakley said it was unclear when his lungs would fully recover, but hoped to return to work later this year.

He said he could not "praise enough" the team of about 30 doctors, nurses and physiotherapists who looked after him.

Mr Oakley urged anyone with worsening Covid symptoms to call NHS 111, after feeling reluctant to "bother people" when he deteriorated at home after a positive Covid test a few days before he collapsed.

"I've learnt if you do feel ill ring 111 as it's better to be safe than sorry," he said.