‘I conquered the virus’: Secondary school teacher, 26, who has diabetes and conditions affecting her lungs and liver tells how she battled back after contracting Covid-19
A secondary school teacher who suffers from diabetes among other debilitating medical conditions has told how she contracted – and conquered – coronavirus.
Sarah Hall, who turned 26 while battling the illness last week, has told of her experience after contracting the virus in a harrowing account.
In addition to type 1 diabetes, Sarah suffers from a condition called A1AT that affects her lungs and liver.
At the beginning of March, Sarah began to feel unwell but chalked her fatigue down to the stresses of teaching, she told the Daily Telegraph. She then began to notice that she felt more susceptible to the cold than usual.
Sarah Hall battled against Covid-19 and won despite having pre-existing conditions
A day later, she developed a persistent cough and was advised by her place of work to self-isolate for fourteen days.
After a call to the NHS 111 line, she and the operator began to strongly suspect she had the Covid-19 virus.
Sarah began to feel lightheaded, as though she was about to faint all the time. She tried to remain calm, take in lots of fluids and keep her mind off Covid-19.
Two days later, she thought she was on the way to recovery. Her breathing became easier and her fever had subsided.
But, by the afternoon, she was sweating. She flopped on the couch and began vomiting, losing consciousness, coughing and struggling to breathe.
Her fever waxed and waned over the course of the afternoon and by the end of the day she had thrown-up four times.
Sarah still felt unsure if she should go to hospital not wanting to waste resources or be an infection risk to someone else.
Despite feeling desperately unwell, she continued to work from home, sending in work for her students and planning lessons. It took her ten hours to complete one lesson.
By the evening of the next day she still felt unwell. At 7pm she called NHS 111 again and was told she must wait nine hours for an ambulance to arrive and conduct a face-to-face assessment.
Sarah, 26, couldn’t blow out her own birthday candles as she was left breathless from the virus
At 2am Sarah was still waiting but eventually receives a third call-back. After being on the line for a few minutes, Sarah got the feeling that the phone operator was trying to convince her to cancel the ambulance.
Sarah’s boyfriend has to take over the phone call, as she can no longer speak through her breathlessness. NHS 111 tell them it will be a long wait and double check if she really wants an ambulance? She does.
Sarah gets a fourth call-back at 4am and the operator admits the ambulance is still hours away. They also tell the couple they can’t offer Sarah a taxi via the NHS because that would mean compromising the health of others.
Luckily, Sarah had just bought a car two months before and had put her boyfriend on the insurance. At 5am they pack and go to the Royal Free Hospital.
The next day, Sarah tests positive for coronavirus.
Severely dehydrated, she is administered fluids and then sent back home.
A week after her symptoms first appeared, they finally begin to lessen. Though she’s still too breathless to blow out the candles on her birthday cake.
Despite having a lung condition as well as diabetes, she conquered the virus.