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A 45-year-old man who spent nine days on life support to receive coronavirus treatment at Cork University Hospital has thanked the medical team and staff there for saving his life.
Dave Crabb and his wife Netanya say their recovery represents a message of hope.
The couple lives with their family at Carrigtwohill in East Cork.
They spent five days in New York in early March on what they describe as the trip of a lifetime.
Netanya returned to work upon arrival home; Dave’s job was temporarily closed after coronavirus restrictions were imposed.
Within a week, he began to feel bad.
Dave and Netanya discussed their symptoms with their GP. He had temperature and shortness of breath and was miserable.
The couple joked that their symptoms could be coronaviruses, without imagining that they were exactly that.
Dave’s condition continued to deteriorate and he was admitted to Cork University Hospital, where he was treated for coronavirus.
Her symptoms worsened again.
At that stage, doctors told Dave that they needed to put him into an induced coma. I had 10 minutes to call Netanya and her family. He wondered if he would ever wake up.
Within 30 hours of developing severe symptoms, Dave was using a ventilator in the intensive care unit at Cork University Hospital. To the point of developing symptoms, he had been fit and healthy, had no underlying condition, and regularly went to the gym.
“I think the moment they told me they were going to knock me out was the scariest moment,” Dave told RTÉ News. “Immediately, you think about your family, the children, what happens if I don’t wake up.
“It is the first thing that comes to your mind. You know that people are losing their lives because of this, so when you are in that position you don’t know it. The moment they said they would put me on life support, you don’t know where you’ll be “.
Netanya said that at that stage everyone was on a steep learning curve; it was difficult to assimilate everything. She described it as an intense and terrifying emotional roller coaster.
The doctor described him as if he was fighting for his life and who is going to win in the end
“They called me 20 minutes before submitting him to explain that he couldn’t hold his breath, even with the support they were giving him,” he explained. “They were really concerned.”
Dave spent the next nine days on a fan. During this time, Netanya was at home isolating herself with her family. It was a stressful and difficult time and she worried if she would see Dave alive again.
“There were several nights when they (Dave’s doctors) called me and said that he was critical and that he was very unstable,” Netanya recalled.
“They didn’t want to be negative, but they didn’t want to give me false hopes. The doctor described it as being fighting for his life and who is going to win in the end. It’s crazy to think that this is something so small that we can’t even see, but how deadly it is. “
Dave and Netanya pleaded with people to heed the government’s advice and restrictions and respect social distancing.
“You have to take it seriously. It means your life,” says Netanya. “It is very important. It means that you are protecting yourself, but you are also protecting other people around you.”
After nine days of life support, Dave began to recover, first transferring from intensive care to high dependency, before being released from the hospital last week. Your recovery will continue at home for several weeks.
The couple say they are indebted to their families, to their GP, to the staff at Cork University Hospital who took over Dave, in particular to Consultant Dr. Corinna Sadlier, who kept Netanya updated on Dave’s condition and progress constantly.
“When you are in times of stress and need, you can really see how it is integrated into our Irish nature to help and be supportive”
“Everyone risks their lives every day,” says Dave of his medical team and staff at Cork University Hospital.
“Upon entering the rooms, disguising myself, knowing that I had received Covid-19: they were putting their lives in danger every time, only to give me a bottle of water, much less medicine and pieces like that.
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So a huge ‘thank you’ to these guys. If it wasn’t for them, I really don’t think I would be here, because they were doing things, working 24 hours a day to try to keep going. “
Tanya added: “When you are in times of stress and need, you can really see how you are integrated into our Irish nature to help and support everyone from family and friends, doctors, nurses and consultants. – Thank you.”
Dave and Natanya believe that Dave contracted coronavirus during his trip to New York. His next trip will be shorter, to thank the staff at Cork University Hopsital, they say he brought Dave back to life.
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