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Raising money for Colchester ICU Department

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My names Paul Godfrey. I am a young 32 year old male & this year I had a wake up call. 

On the 14th of March I was rushed to Colchester
hospital with suspected COVID 19. I had an ongoing chest infection for a week or two before hand & begun to decline rapidly over the course of that weekend. I couldn’t breathe, I could barely get out of bed and to even stand felt impossible. The hospital had a physiotherapist come and help me daily to try and help with my COPD and lungs.

When arriving at Colchester hospital I had a COVID 19 test & was told I would have to wait a few days for that to come back so was isolated and confined to a side room on the ward. After a few tests had been done & still no improvement in my health & well-being I was told I had a severe lung infection & that my lungs had collapsed. A couple of days went on & I wasn’t showing any sign of improvement and was still unable to talk or really walk  & was relying on the oxygen, fluids and antibiotics to keep my levels up so it was decided that a plan needed to be put into place to send me down to Intensive care. 

A doctor sat with me & spoke me through what thenext step was & I was told that it was highly possible that my body wasn’t going to cope with this infection alone and I may need ventilation intervention ie: an induced coma to give me the best chance of beating this. The doctor also confirmed that my xrays showed I had pneumonia which I have suffered with previously on two other occasions. 

I remember being terrified , alone & hearing them words and just thinking the worst. How was I going to get over this? 

When going down to ICU i was isolated in a room with a nurse with me 24 hours of the day. The support and care they gave me was amazing and I remember feeling safe because of this and knew I was in the best care.

My family were told over the phone that the next step was to put me into a induced coma & they were besides themselves. I privately made my last wishes and funeral plans and sent the to a family member in case it got to that stage but 24hrs later the Drs told them I had turned a corner & was going in the complete opposite direction. 

By this point I had been told my results come back positive to COVID 19 which were the last words anyone would want to hear but it didn’t stop me. I used it to push through & make sure I recovered. I had too much to fight for. 

After a few days I was sent back to the ward & off ICU to continue with my recovery. I had come on leaps and bounds & I truly believe I wouldn’t be here to tell this story if it wasn’t for Colchester intensive care & the doctors / nurses who cared for me while I was there.  

I spent what felt like the longest two weeks of my life in Colchester Hospital beating and recovering from COVID 19 and for that I owe Colchester hospital more than I could ever give them, so I have set up this page to raise money for their ICU department. I beat have beat the virus , pneumonia everything thanks to the care and help at Colchester hospital they are true hero’s and now I’ve been home 4 weeks and I have a long recovery but I’m alive thanks to them.

Prior to setting this up I was in contact with the staff on the ward and asked them what they could benefit from if I was to raise money for their department and they told me they really wanted to renovate their counselling / family waiting room. 

this room is a private and peaceful space for families to wait & speak to doctors about their loved ones. It is a space that is crucial to ensure that family’s have privacy and respect during some of the hardest times of their lives. This room stayed with in my thoughts while I was in hospital because if things were different my family could of been in there being spoken to by my doctors or able to visit.

Any more money raised will go towards staff packages to make sure they realise how appreciated they are & any further money will go towards renovations or essentials around the hospital. 


So now I have to ask. Please help me & donate to Colchester hospital because they really are hero’s. I owe Colchester Hospital everything I have to give and want to help in anyway possible.

 

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Donations 

  • Rob Northfield
    • £50 
    • 4 yrs
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Organizer

Paul Godfrey
Organizer

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