Covid-19 patient Sam McQueen was transferred to Royal Brompton Hospital from Northwick Park Hospital on 22 March with severe Covid-19 related lung disease.
On 29 May, 72-year-old Sam was discharged in time to celebrate his son’s birthday.
Sam’s dignity, kindness and humour made him very popular with hospital staff, a number of whom gathered to wish him well on the afternoon of his discharge.
In this moving video Sam shares his struggles battling Covid-19: from time on Royal Brompton Hospital’s Intensive Care Unit, to gaining use of his hands and legs again, to the ‘infusion of energy’ he received at the thought of going home, and his gratitude to the NHS for saving his life.
Teams at Royal Brompton & Harefield NHS Foundation Trust have treated more than 250 Covid-19 patients throughout the first phase of the pandemic. As a specialist cardio-respiratory centre, with additional expertise in intensive care, the Trust’s clinicians are caring for some of the sickest Covid patients with severe acute respiratory failure. These include more than 50 patients on Extracorporeal Membrane Oxygenation (ECMO), a form of life support. Royal Brompton Hospital is one of five centrally-funded adult ECMO centres in England.