NHS staff cheer as radiographer who proposed to girlfriend while on ventilator makes ‘miracle’ recovery

Radiographer Paul Skegg suffered a rare complication of Covid-19 that led to total muscular paralysis of the whole body.

After 11 days in intensive care – during which he proposed to his girlfriend over FaceTime – the 42-year-old walked out of Darent Valley Hospital on Sunday with a guard of honour.

In an emotional video shared by the trust, Mr Skegg and his now-fiancee can be seen leaving the hospital to whoops and claps.

He has worked for the health service for 24 years.

Dr Jonathan Kwan, divisional medical director at the Kent hospital, said the radiographer was admitted on April 3 and later developed Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a very rare complication of Covid-19.

It is the first known case in Kent, if not the whole country, he said.

During his time in the intensive treatment unit (ITU), Mr Skegg popped the question to girlfriend Katy Lavender.

The pair both work as radiographers for different NHS trusts.

Dr Kwan said: “He thought he was in his last leg and he took a deep breath and mouthed the proposal through his tracheotomy tube.

“To no-one’s surprise, Katy accepted, to the immense delight of all the ITU staff looking after him.

“It was an extraordinary happy occasion to otherwise sweaty hard-slog routines of ITU.”

Dr Kwan paid tribute to the critical care team as well as the hospital’s expert neurologists, who used a “groundbreaking” therapy to treat Mr Skegg.

It used an immunoglobulin infusion, a plasma extract from blood donations supplied by the National Blood Transfusion Service (NHSBT).

He said: “Without this, Paul might have been on the ventilator for much longer.

“His rapid recovery is just short of a miracle.

“Today, we lined the corridor for one of our own and clapped this front-line NHS staff home, following a 16-day stay at Darent Valley Hospital.”