Brave Covid victim Jayne Kelly has thanked Tameside Hospital for the 'wonderful care' she has received as she continues to recover from the illness.

But selfless Jayne has also participated in two research trials throughout her treatment, stating that she ‘wanted to do anything that might help other Covid patients.’  

A keyworker and carer at Age UK, Jayne, from Denton, fell ill with coronavirus in January this year. 

Her condition deteriorated so much that she needed to be admitted to Tameside Hospital to manage her symptoms and she was soon placed on a ventilator. Six months on, she has yet to return home.

Jayne spent more than 10 weeks in critical care, isolated from her husband of 35 years and she now suffers from muscle weakness due to her immobility whilst being ventilated.

Ultimately she was transferred to another ward at the hospital when stable and recalled the first time she saw her husband since being admitted to hospital months before. 

She says that the nurses went all out to pamper her for the occasion, buying her a new nightgown, painting her nails and even sourcing a hair-dryer to blow-dry and style her hair to be ‘date ready’ as Jayne put it for their reunion.

Not yet recovered enough to return home, Jayne remains too weak with continuing symptoms however, she reports to be improving all the time and has plans to get back to her love of singing at a charity gig this September. Jayne’s husband now calls her the ‘Singing Survivor’.

Jayne felt so strongly about the ‘wonderful care’ she says she has received at the hospital, that she even emailed her local MP to let him know about her experience.

She added: “I have been treated really well and the staff are all amazing and worth their weight in gold.”

Since going into hospital, brave Jayne has agreed to take part in two research trials to help in the development of treatments to combat Covid.

Upon admission to intensive care she was signed up as a participant for the ‘RECOVERY’ trial which aims to identify treatments that may be beneficial for people hospitalised with suspected or confirmed Covid-19. 

As part of her standard care, Jayne was given dexamethasone, a type of steroid, which had been evidenced in an earlier RECOVERY study analysis to reduce deaths in symptomatic Covid patients by one third if ventilated and by one fifth in patients receiving oxygen only.

Having never taken part in research in the past, Jayne then signed up to another research study, also run at the Tameside and Glossop NHS Trust called GenOMICs. 

This study investigates any potential genetic links to patients’ susceptibility to develop severe Covid infections. 

Jayne said she wanted to do anything that she could to help other Covid patients and also added that she was pleased to be able to contribute in the fight against Covid-19 through her research contribution.

Tameside and Glossop IC NHS FT has been recognised as the lead recruiter for the RECOVERY trial across England in February and again in March 2021. 

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