‘I saved your life three times’ - doctor

COVID Survivor urges people to be vigilant

A Coronavirus survivor, who spent weeks in ICU on a ventilator and had to be revived three times, is warning people to remain vigilant despite easing restrictions.

Warrior Carmel McHugh from Bawnboy received a hero’s welcome when she returned to her native village last week after more than two months in hospital.

“Covid is very real. I was very sick now. Being in a coma, I did not realise how bad I was... I urge people out there to be responsible and wear the masks. God Almighty, you could not say it often enough!”

In fact nine of the 10 members of the McHugh clan were diagnosed with COVID-19, Carmel being the last confirmed case in the family.

Carmel’s husband Séamus, who also contracted the virus, agrees that people should not be complacent and is urging them to get vaccinated. “Covid is surely for real. I’m not over it yet. I still get tired with cold sweats,” he revealed.

There were hugs and tears of joy as Carmel emerged from the car driven by her husband having spent eight weeks and two days between Cavan General and Monaghan Hospital.

Their daughters Emma and Susan were overcome with emotion and shouts of ‘welcome home’ filled the Bawnboy air.

Carmel, with an expression of disbelief on her face, turned to acknowledge the well wishers before retreating to her own corner by the fire in her home to enjoy a scone and a cup of tea.

There, more relaxed and relieved, Carmel revealed she did not realise how ‘touch and go’ her condition was as she lay in an induced coma in the ICU unit at Cavan General Hospital, at times close to death.

She recounted the following exchange with her Anaesthetist on his rounds.

“He said ‘Carmel McHugh!’.

“I said ‘Yes?’.

“‘Do you remember me?’”

“I said ‘no, should I?’”.

“He said ‘You should, I saved your life three times!’”

Carmel only recalls going into the hospital and the nurse coming out with the wheelchair. “I don’t remember being in the A&E or going up to ICU. I remember very little in the week leading up to going onto the ventilator,” she recalls.

Her husband Séamus says it was a very worrying time for the family and thanked their family members and neighbours who left meals and games for the children outside their homes.

Carmel and all the family members highlighted how the staff at Cavan and in Monaghan hospitals were “brilliant”.

For full story and interview with the family, see tomorrow's issue of the Celt, in local newsagents.