Covid-19 patient: 'I thought I'd never walk, now I'm dancing'

Mick Hazeldene is back "dad dancing" - "much to the despair" of his two sons

A Covid patient who feared he would never walk again has thanked NHS staff who cared for him with a dance.

Mick Hazeldene, 65, was on a ventilator in intensive care at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital after contracting coronavirus before Christmas.

"At my lowest point as I thought that I would never walk again," he said.

Now, "much to the despair of my sons", Mr Hazeldene is back "dad dancing" and shared a video of his Northern Soul moves with NHS staff.

"My family and I will be eternally grateful," he said in his tribute video, in which he twirls to Frank Wilson's Do I Love You (Indeed I Do).

"All the staff were brilliant," he said.

Mr Hazeldene and his wife, Karen, both tested positive for coronavirus on the same day last year, but while her condition improved, his deteriorated.

'Grateful to be alive'

He was first taken to the Royal Stoke Hospital where he spent three weeks in a critical care unit before being transferred to Shrewsbury.

"I cannot recall my time spent in critical care or HDU [high dependency unit]," Mr Hazeldene said.

"I was so grateful to be alive, but also scared at how I looked and felt physically."

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He spent a further three weeks at Royal Shrewsbury Hospital - and for two of those he was dependent on a ventilator.

"I'd lost two-and-a-half stone in weight and my muscles were so deconditioned, I could not sit upright on my own," he said.

"The first time the team got me out of bed, I could not support my own weight and crumpled to the floor."

He spent time in therapy and was discharged two days before Christmas and is now continuing his recovery at home.

Clare Newby, who manages the Shrewsbury ward where Mr Hazeldene was treated said staff who cared for him were "touched" and "delighted" by the video.