‘Nobody expected me to live’ – mum leaves hospital a year after catching Covid
Nicoleta Tuna, 30, spent so long in hospital that she learned English while on the ward.
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Your support makes all the difference.A mother who became severely ill after contracting Covid-19 while 36 weeks pregnant has returned home to her baby daughter after more than a year in hospital.
Nicoleta Tuna, 30, of Colchester in Essex, was unvaccinated when she caught coronavirus in October 2021.
Her condition quickly deteriorated and she was admitted to Colchester Hospital where her daughter Thea was delivered by emergency Caesarean.
Ms Tuna was then placed in a medically induced coma and in November 2021 she was transferred to Royal Papworth Hospital, a specialist heart and lung hospital in Cambridge, for advanced care.
She spent 299 days on an ECMO machine, a specialist intensive care life support machine which pumps oxygen into a patient’s blood, allowing the lungs to rest.
ECMO stands for extra-corporeal membrane oxygenation, and Ms Tuna’s run of 299 days was the longest ever at the hospital.
She was woken from her coma in February 2022, by which point Thea was nearly four months old.
Ms Tuna spent so long in hospital that she learned English while on the ward, with the help of staff translating from Romanian.
And she was finally discharged on Thursday, clapped from the ward by dozens of NHS staff who cared for her.
She was joined by her husband Mike, six-year-old son Eduard and daughter Thea, now aged one.
Ms Tuna said: “After the C-section I remember nothing.
“I woke up and was being nursed by a Romanian healthcare support worker, and she spoke to me.
“I asked her ‘what day is it’ and she said ’22 February 2022’.
“I couldn’t believe it, it was too much.
“I was told my chances of survival were very small; nobody expected me to live.
“I was so, so poorly.”
When Thea was six months old, Ms Tuna was strong enough to be able to hold her daughter for the first time.
She remained on ECMO support until August 31, and in September she was slowly taken off the ventilator and onto a high flow form of oxygen which she will continue to use at home.
“It has been very difficult as I have not been able to spend time with my daughter or my six-year-old son, but I can now spend the rest of my life with them and my husband thanks to all of the people at Royal Papworth,” said Ms Tuna.
“I didn’t speak any English when I was first admitted, but all of the staff here have helped me in many ways including helping me with my English as well as throwing a (first birthday) party for Thea which was just amazing.
“While I was in critical care, the staff wrote well wishes in a notebook for me which I will treasure forever.
“They have all written beautiful words; they are now my second family.
“My wish is to live with my kids and see them grow up, something I didn’t think I would get the chance to do.”