Fenland dad beats Covid-19 to return home to family
A father of five is back home with his family after a month-long battle with Covid-19 which saw him on a ventilator and fighting for his life.
Stacy Mould, 42, from March, is a fit and healthy rugby player with Ely 2nds and also has a physical job at Smurfitt Kappa, but that did not stop the virus from putting his life in the balance on at least three occasions during his stay in Peterborough City Hospital.
His grateful wife Sarah, and mother of their five children: Jordan, 22, Rhys, 19, Charlotte, 17, Sophie, 14 and seven-year-old Lana, has launched a fundraising effort to say thank-you to the "amazing staff "in the intensive care unit who saved Stacy's life.
She has been selling hand crotched heart badges, made by a friend, via a Justgiving page and has smashed her original £500 target, raising nearly five times that in just a few days.
Sarah, who also contracted Covid-19 and was bed-ridden for five days as a result, explained Stacy's fight with the virus began when he first developed flu-like symptoms at the end of March.
She said:"The boys had both had coughs and colds before that, and then Stacy started to feel unwell on Sunday March 29 and he went off sick from work. He had all the symptoms of flu, but no cough - that came towards the end. The virus started to affect his breathing and so we called an ambulance on the Wednesday, but the crew advised it was better if he could stay at home and manage himself as hospital was "not a nice place to be".
"He continued to struggle to breath and then on Monday April 6 it got really bad, he was gasping for air so we called an ambulance again. It was here hardly any time before it was blue-lighting Stacy through to hospital.
"He went straight into intensive care. He called me the next day from ICU and told me not to panic but he was going to sleep for three to five days - he could barely speak his breathing was so bad."
After that it was a real rollercoaster for Sarah and the children, as they were warned at least three times to expect the worst.
"The doctors and nurses were brilliant they would keep me updated throughout each day. Stacy was on 100 per cent oxygen and at one point the doctors were talking to Addenbrooke's in Cambridge because they just didn't know how to help him.
"Then they turned him onto his front and that seemed to help. Every evening the nurse would hold the phone to Stacy's ear and I would talk to him, and the nurse said he seemed to respond to my voice. I was telling him 'you've got this', 'just keep fighting' and encouraging him to get better, said Sarah.
Finally after a month of highs and lows Stacy started to improve and he came off the ventilator on May 1 - the couple's wedding anniversary.
He made rapid improvement after that. He was three-and-a-half weeks on a ventilator, but was finally allowed home on Tuesday (12). Sarah said: "When I went to pick him up from hospital all the staff lined up and clapped as he left, it was very moving. He is still very weak but is getting stronger every day.
"We wanted to tell his story to give hope to others. You hear all the negative stuff all the time, but you don't hear so many stories that have a happy ending.
"This is a dreadful virus, I see people not taking it seriously, ignoring social distancing in supermarkets and out and about, and I think - 'what on earth are you thinking'.
"Stacy is physically fit and and strong, but this virus nearly killed him. We will be forever grateful to the doctors and nurses at Peterborough City Hospital for everything they did for Stacy, which is why I wanted to fundraise for them to say thank-you."
To donate visit: Justgiving
