A healthy dad who was given a one-in-three chance of survival after catching Covid unvaccinated and ending up in a coma is urging people to get their jabs.
Adam Sharp, 32, from Kirkcaldy in Fife, contracted the virus last month and began experiencing difficulties five days in.
Over the following two weeks medics would fight to save his life as he became critically ill and was put into a coma.
The dad-of-two is now urging people, particularly younger people who may think they won’t be badly affected by the virus, to get their jabs – something he will be doing as soon as possible.
Mr Sharp initially contacted a doctor a few days into contracting the virus with concerns over his high temperature.
He was also experiencing issues with his breathing and was soon admitted to Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy.
The situation rapidly deteriorated over the next three days as his lungs struggled to maintain oxygen levels and he was transferred to ICU. His medical staff had to give him a form of resuscitation, manually pushing air into his lungs to keep them open before he went on a ventilator and in a coma.
His wife, Kim, said: “The first couple of days he was really unwell, critically unwell. The doctors weren’t able to tell me if he would survive or not.”
He was referred to a lung specialist in Aberdeen as a last resort measure.
It came to nearly the two-week mark when he managed to maintain oxygen levels lying on his back for a period of 48 hours, a moment where his wife says he appeared to be turning a corner. Doctors took him off the paralysing agent he’d been on.
Mrs Sharp, who also contracted Covid during this time, said: “The doctors explained that what Adam had going for him is that he was only 32 and had no underlying health conditions. So I think that’s what saved him.”
Unsurprisingly Mr Sharp has no memory of large parts of the whole ordeal.
“I remember waking up and there was a person either side of me and someone in front of me and it was an orange room – it wasn’t the kind of room I’d associate with a hospital,” he said.
“It might sound stupid but I thought someone had kidnapped me so I kind of freaked out a wee bit. Once they managed to explain I calmed down a bit.
“I can remember the heat – the temperature was just unbelievable – at one point I had six cold packs across my chest and one on my head and the heat was still unbearable.
“I remember messaging my wife and saying ‘this is it, I’m going to die alone’.”
Mr Sharp, who has two children with wife , says he will now get vaccinated at the earliest opportunity and is urging younger people who may not think they could end up in a life-or-death situation to get the jab.
“I’ve not had any vaccinations yet and I’ve never been ill in my life, I’ve never been in hospital or anything, I’ve been lucky so I thought to myself I didn’t need vaccinations – it wouldn’t happen to me.
“I thought to myself even if I do get it it’s not as if it’ll be something serious. And when it did get serious it was the scariest moment of my life.
“I actually did think I was gone. I just want to tell people it is serious. As someone who’s only 32-years-old, no underlying health issues, I was given a one-in-three chance of survival.
His wife agrees: “Get your vaccinations. Not just for yourself but for your family.
“I think we’d been quite naive with Covid and it wasn’t until we experienced this that we realised the restrictions in place are to save lives.
“If there wasn’t a bed in ICU for him then Adam would’ve died.”
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