A double vaccinated mum from Devon is going home for Christmas after six weeks in ICU with COVID.

Nicola Darlington was admitted to Derriford Hospital back in October after contracting COVID-19. Despite having both doses of the COVID vaccine, Nicola ended up spending over eight weeks in hospital, six of those in ICU. She believes without her vaccines; the outcome could have been much worse.

‘I can’t really remember a lot at the beginning because I was still quite poorly however, when I came round it was quite scary. I didn’t realise how poorly I’d been until people were telling me as I’d been asleep for 20 days. People were filling me in on bits and pieces and they were just amazed that I pulled through it.’

Now able to comprehend the seriousness of her condition in ICU, Nicola has nothing but praise for the staff: ‘They were brilliant in ICU, totally amazing. They were always there to help me, and the good thing was that they were trying to make me feel normal.

‘They washed my hair because I was always paranoid about my hair and one of the girls did my nails for me. The little things like that really made the difference, the fact that they made that extra effort. There was always someone beside me and that was really good as it made me feel a lot better knowing someone was there.’

After a gruelling eight weeks in hospital, Nicola was able to be discharged and return home to her family, just in time for Christmas. However, she still has a long recovery journey ahead of her as she works to regain her strength and fight off the remaining symptoms of COVID.  

‘It feels amazing to be going home. I know I can get on and be a bit more independent now I’m going home. All the family are coming round for Christmas, but they will be testing before they come in. But really, I’m looking forward to going home, building my strength up and spending time with my family.’

Although still being on the road to recovery, Nicola is keen to share her story in order to encourage more people to go and get their COVID vaccination. She believes that if she hadn’t received both of her doses, she may not have pulled through.

‘I never thought this would happen to me as I had both of my injections. It’s scary because it shows that this could happen to anyone, and that it can get pretty serious. It’s important to go and get your vaccinations as you just don’t know how serious it can be.’