Covid patient's emotional reunion with nurse

Joanne Writtle
Health correspondent, BBC Midlands
BBC A women with tied back blonde hair wraps her arms around a man wearing a camouflage patterned hoodie. He has short dark hair and you can see the back of his head. She is wearing black rimmed glasses with gold temples and is looking up over his shoulder. BBC
Former patient, Dominic Cox, and Sister Jo Cella make up for the hugs banned during the pandemic.

A man who nearly died from Covid has had an emotional reunion with the nurse who cared for him.

Dominic Cox, 26, from West Bromwich, returned to the former critical care unit at Sandwell General Hospital to meet Sister Jo Cella.

"My Dommy," she sobbed as she threw her arms around him, making up for the hugs not allowed during the pandemic. "It makes me cry, every time I see him. I love to see him, and to see how he was and how he is now is just a miracle," she said.

Dominic, who fell ill during the second wave of the pandemic in late 2020, was in intensive care for three months.

He said: "It's so nice to see [Jo} again. She looked after me so much during my time here. She looked after my mum as well, mum would call every morning to get updates and Jo would always be the one to pick up the phone."

Jo, 53, who has been a nurse for 34 years, explained: "I have a son the same age, same name, I looked after [Dominic] like I would want someone to look after my son and my relative. And that's how I've always been throughout my nursing career."

A man in his 20s with short dark hair and a beard, stands looking at the camera and smiling. He is wearing black framed glasses, a grey camouflage hoodie with a black T-shirt on underneath. He is stood in a room with hospital apparatus behind him.
Dominic Cox was in intensive care for three months

During his illness, Dominic's mum, Heather Clarke, wasn't allowed to visit for seven weeks due to Covid restrictions. But when the hospital feared he might die, they allowed her in.

Heather explained: "Part of me didn't want to [visit] because as long as they were saying you can't see him, you can't come and visit, I knew there was a chance. But at that time, because of Covid, if you were told you could come and visit, it was for a last goodbye."

She paused, tearfully: "So coming down, was bitter sweet."

A women in her 50s with tied back blonde hair stands facing the camera and smiling. She is wearing glasses with a tortoise shell frame and a dark blue top. She s stood in a room with hospital apparatus behind her.
Sister Jo Cella, a nurse of 34 years

Despite the two women not having previously met in person, they instinctively felt a connection.

Jo said: "She was standing at the door, and said, 'You're Jo,' and I said, 'You're Heather, come and see your son.'

"I am convinced that Heather's presence, even though Dominic wasn't completely aware that she was here, had some bearing on his recovery."

Heather said: "I will never ever be able to repay what they did for me and for our family. They saved my son. Jo, and every other member of staff at that time, they fought for my son and my son's still here because of them."

A woman with dark brown hair tied back, glasses and a grey V-neck top is sat down lookkng at the camera. There is a room with strip lighting and some furniture behind her.
Heather Clarke, Dominc's mum, returned with him to the former critical care unit

Thousands of people went to both Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals with symptoms of Covid during the pandemic, with 650 ending up in intensive care. Of those, half died, according to Sandwell and West Birmingham Hospitals NHS Trust.

Senior Sister Catherine Beddowes, who also remembers Dominic, said: "For me being with a patient at end of life has always been a privilege, and being part of that journey with a family and a patient is so important.

"We weren't able to give that during Covid. Death happened so quickly, families weren't there. Holding a patient's hand as they died with a family watching through a video link was heartbreaking."

A woman with short light brown hair smiles at the camera. She is wearing a dark blue uniform with white trim in a V-neck. She has a yellow name badge with the NHS logo on it. She is stood in a room that has some cupboards, furniture and windows.
Senior Sister Catherine Beddowes, who also cared for Dominic

The critical care unit has since moved to the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital in Smethwick, making the reunion at the Sandwell even more emotional.

Five years on, Dominic still suffers with long Covid but is gradually improving.

"I'm doing better, when I woke up I couldn't move anything because of nerve damage and muscle waste from being in a coma for so long.

"I couldn't talk because I was on a ventilator so I had to learn to talk again, use my hands again."

Now 26, he hopes to start the master's degree he had planned to do before he got ill.

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