Black Country councillor in a coma with Covid - after having headache as only symptom

Tividale ward councillor Sandra Hevican is on a ventilator in the intensive care unit at Walsall Manor Hospital.

The 55-year-old, from Wednesbury, was admitted to hospital last month after she and her husband came down with a headache, before they tested positive for coronavirus.

Her husband Robert, 58, to whom she has been married for 35 years, said: "We got tested on February 12 and the test came back positive on Friday 13.

"On the day the test came back, she was feeling fine. But on her last day of self isolation, which was February 20, I had to call paramedics because her breathing was not too good.

"She has been in hospital since then. Unfortunately her condition did not improve and she had to go into intensive care.

"She had a collapsed lung on March 12 and it has been an absolute nightmare since then.

"It has been absolutely dreadful. It has been touch and go for the last week.

"I have never been through anything like this in my life. The staff are doing a fantastic job and they know what they are doing. But it is terrifying.

"She is on a ventilator in a coma.

Symptom

"I phoned the hospital this morning, doctors told me most people do not come back from this."

He added: "The thing is the headache. Headaches aren't something you should be tested for but that is what we had.

"I must stress, that symptom is the only symptom we had. We did not have a high temperature, a loss of smell or cough.

"I never thought my future would not have my wife in it."

Councillor Hevican was first elected in May 2014 and she also works as a housing benefits officer at Wolverhampton Council.

Tipton Green ward Ian Jones added: "She has been a councillor for seven years and works for Wolverhampton Council as a housing benefits officer.

"Councillor Hevican is highly thought of in the council and in her place of employment.

"She has been in Manor Hospital four weeks and the last two weeks on intensive care."