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A coronavirus survivor recounted the traumatic reality of fighting the disease that killed her mother and infected four family members who are all key workers.
Professor Carol-Ann Challoner praised our amazing NHS staff and said, “Some of the things I saw in the room will stay with me forever.”
The 46-year-old woman was one of four key working members of her family to tragically contract the coronavirus in March.
Carol-Ann said that she, her father Joey, an ambulance driver, her mother Carol, a social worker, and her brother Joseph, who works with children with learning difficulties, had symptoms of the contagious virus.
She said her family had different symptoms ranging from a rash to chills and flu-like symptoms.
And that while you are in the hospital “you hear that people are dying” and “you forget how to breathe”.
Carol-Ann exposed the traumatic reality of coronavirus and how our NHS staff is compassionately caring for people in extraordinary circumstances.
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Despite revealing that doctors and nurses had to wear mountains of protective gear, Carol-Ann said, “They seemed so deflated, but still tried to smile.”
Carol-Ann was so touched by the compassion of Aintree Hospital staff is raising funds for them in appreciation.
Teacher Carol-Ann from Croxteth Park said she was first admitted to Aintree Hospital in March after having difficulty breathing.
While there, Carol-Ann’s beloved mother Carol Challoner, 65, was also admitted and also battled the coronavirus.
Unfortunately, Carol passed away in the hospital, and since then tributes have accumulated for the social worker.
(Image: Carol-Ann Challoner)
Carol-Ann has spoken to ECHO about her experience in the hospital and why she wants to give back to the staff who cared for her.
Carol-Ann said: “I developed a rash and thought it was allergies. It seemed that the moment I ate bread I erupted and had just changed the powdered detergent so I thought it was that.
“I really didn’t notice. The day after my dad came home from work and was having my tea that night with my mom and dad, I don’t live with them but I cook for them and they cook for me.
“He came home and said ‘I really don’t feel well, I can’t warm up.’ He didn’t join us for tea, but then he developed all the signs of Covid-19. The next day I started developing symptoms as well.
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“The next morning was the last day that the government kept the schools open and I wanted to say goodbye to my Year 11, and I was thinking of going in. Luckily I didn’t go in because I felt too bad.”
“We all had different symptoms, I had the rash, my father had chills and flu-like symptoms.
“So I was isolated for a week, my dad was isolated for a week.”
(Image: family brochure)
In March, as much information about the deadly disease was not known as it is now, and theories have been developed since then about its effect on families.
Carol-Ann said, “There are 1,001 things going around in your head because you hear that people are dying.
“It was weird, it sounds really stupid, but it’s like you’ve forgotten how to breathe. You’re focusing on how to really breathe.”
“They took me to the Amber room, where they sent anyone who had not tested positive or was waiting for results.
“It was all a little fuzzy, and I slept most of the time, but they gave me an IV drip, they put me on pretty high oxygen.”
“I just remember it blew up in my nose and I think I fell asleep.”
Describing the heavy equipment hospital workers used to protect themselves, Carol-Ann said she was concerned about how comfortable they were.
She said, “They were all wearing the plastic gowns, the gloves. They were wearing material gowns, but all the nurses tripped over them, they were too long. Some were wearing goggles, some were wearing visors.
“I know myself with the oxygen mask right above my ear, it just removes the skin. They wear these masks all day, so God knows how it should be.”
“I felt very sorry for them because one, they put on the medical uniforms, then they put on the gowns, then they put on the aprons. And then the glasses and the visors and everything.
“I don’t know where they could really breathe or have room to breathe
“All the nurses said, ‘I can’t wait to go home and shower, or go to the bathroom, or put on my pajamas.’ Just looking at them, I felt really bad for them.
“They seemed so discouraged, but they still tried to smile.”
Realizing the compassionate daily care that doctors and nurses were giving to patients, Carol-Ann said she also overheard some heartbreaking conversations in which staff had to discuss Do Not Resuscitate (DNR) options with patients.
Carol added: “It is not a conversation that doctors should have with someone.”
While there, he also tragically heard the nurses mention his mother’s name and was told that his mother would also need to go to the hospital due to her coronavirus symptoms.
She said, “I heard them say their mother was on the way and I panicked. I started crying, kept thinking ‘my poor little mom.’
“I kept thinking that she shouldn’t be here.”
At first Carol-Ann said her mother had no difficulty breathing, as she did, but that she had flu-like symptoms, she started hallucinating and that was when they called an ambulance.
Carol-Ann added that her mother did not have any underlying health conditions, had type 2 diabetes, but was regularly in the gym and was “quite fit.”
The loving staff at Aintree Hospital asked the mother and daughter if they would like to be together, but Carol-Ann said she thought the couple would care too much about each other to focus on their recovery as much as they could.
As Carol-Ann’s condition improved, she was told that her mother would need to be taken to the intensive care unit.
Dressed in personal protective equipment, Carol-Ann was able to speak to her mother before taking her to the unit.
She said: “They dressed me up, put on gloves, tied me to an oxygen tank and put on a visor before taking me to my mother’s bay.
(Image: family brochure)
“There were patients in the bay and around three nurses and I started crying. When they took me to see my mother, I think everyone was surprised because we were mother and daughter.”
“We just cried uncontrollably, all the sitting patients were crying and even the nurses started crying. We were both exhausted.”
“With the masks and everything we couldn’t really talk to each other.”
Carol sadly died some time later, after spending a few weeks in the hospital.
To pay tribute to her mother, Carol-Ann wrote in A gofundme page for the NHS staff: “We are all absolutely devastated because we really thought my mother would come home, but that was not the case.
“Everyone says their mother is the best mother in the world, but my mother really was.”
Carol-Ann was so moved by the compassionate care that she and her mother received at the hospital that she organized a gofundme campaign, on behalf of her mother, to raise funds for the NHS staff.
(Image: Carol-Ann Challoner)
She said she wants the money to go buy luxuries for staff to pamper herself after seeing how difficult her long shifts using PPE were.
In addition to this, Carol-Ann said she is donating convalescent blood plasma to be used in trials as a possible treatment for Covid-19.
The trials will investigate whether convalescent plasma transfusions could improve the recovery speed and survival chances of a Covid-19 patient.
The trials seek to contact people who tested positive for Covid-19, so Carol-Ann was contacted.
Writing on the gofundmepage, Carol-Ann said: “As a family, we would like to raise at least £ 1,000 so that we can provide the greatest number of staff at Aintree Hospital with what most would consider daily luxuries, but essential to these heroes. especially during these difficult times: moisturizers, bath bombs, bath gel.
“Those little items that will mean a lot to them. We need to help our HEROES with their mental health and well-being, because believe me, they are dealing with a lot right now, and unless they have been in those rooms, or if they have lost a loved one by COVID19, you will NEVER really understand what is going on. So if this means our little HEROES can soak in a bubble bath for half an hour, moisten their damaged and painful skin on their hands then this is the least we can do to they “.
The gofundmepage can be found here.
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