Covid survivor pens thank you to New Cross Hospital workers who saved his life

"Fifteen Minutes and Counting: Never Stop Fighting" by Darren Buttrick tells the story of how Darren ended up in intensive care at New Cross Hospital and in a coma on a ventilator as he battled with Covid-19 in March 2020.

The 51-year-old father-of-three from Coven was one of the first people on the ward to wake from his coma and begin the long path to recovery. He said the book was about giving back to the NHS for saving his life.

He said: "I wanted to leave a legacy for myself and my family to look back on and be able to reflect on what happened, but also raise money for charity.

"It's something that everyone said I should do as my story was so compelling with what I went through and it was always in the back of my mind, but I kept putting it back and saying I'd do it tomorrow.

"Earlier this year, I decided I would do it and got in touch with publishers Story Terrace, who then put me in touch with a ghostwriter and we wrote it about me as an individual and what I went through."

Mr Buttrick said the story detailed his journey from catching the virus to, as he described it, "the darkest day" on March 20 when he was told he was being admitted to intensive care.

He said it had been a cathartic experience writing the book and working with the ghostwriter, saying there had been a few tears.

He said: "It was very emotional as we shed a few tears and had to stop a few times as it brought back a lot of memories from the time."

As part of his thanks to the staff who saved his life, Mr Buttrick gave four members of staff a copy of the book with a signed message inside, as well as a cake with a rainbow on top.

He said: "I just wanted to be able to thank them from the bottom of my heart as I know people lost people to Covid and they were able to save my life.

"They tried so hard to save others and it's been very hard on them, so for me, it's about saying thank you and about giving back and recognising the work from that awful time."

Mr Buttrick said that every penny raised from sales of the book would go to the Royal Wolverhampton Trust NHS Charity.

Specialist intensive care physiotherapist Catherine Watkins was one of the nurses to receive a copy of the book and said it meant a lot to know how much patients appreciate them.

She said: "I think the fact that Darren keeps in touch with us means that he's thinking about us all the time and you don't realise how much patients think about you and how it stays with them.

"Sometimes, it pays to be reminded that everything you do will be remembered by your patient and that it means so much to them.

"I've worked in intensive care for 37 years and, looking back, you can't imagine the enormity of it all and how emotional it all was, as we thought all our patients might die, so when Darren woke up, we were so relieved that someone had survived."

'Fifteen Minutes and Counting: Never Stop Fighting' is available to buy at amazon.co.uk/Fifteen-Minutes-Counting-Never-Fighting/dp/B0B8R3ZVRJ.