Recovered Covid patient who spent 29 days in a coma to cycle 160km in aid of Worthing Hospital

Laurence Penn has already raised more than £2,700 ahead of completing the South Downs Way challenge in just one day on March 31, which he hopes will help provide mental health and wellbeing support for staff at the hospital.

Before falling ill with the virus in March, the 54-year-old was ‘pretty fit’ – enjoying activities including Jujitsu, mountain biking, circuit training and swimming – and had no underlying health conditions.

After returning from a business trip in Dubai, he was forced into bed for eight days with severe coronavirus symptoms. With his situation deteriorating, his worried wife called 111, and he was taken to A&E.

Within three days, he was rushed into intensive care and doctors decided to put him into an induced coma – in which he remained throughout April.

During this time, staff worked tirelessly, treating him with different drugs and turning him over in bed several times a day to allow more oxygen into his lungs.

On two occasions, his family was warned that he might not make it through the night.

During the time he was in intensive care, he said there were around 120 other patients who did not survive.

Laurence was finally taken out of the coma in May, which he said was a ‘very strange’ experience accompanied by ‘bizarre dreams and hallucinations’.

While he recovered in hospital, staff continued their ‘fantastic’ care. As he was too weak to operate his phone, a nurse would come round with an ipad so he could video chat with his wife and daughters.

“That was a real lifeline and a real morale booster for me, to have that come once or twice a day,” he said.

When he was allowed to leave hospital, he still had a journey to recovery ahead, which included physio, as well as speech and language therapy. Laurence said: “Once I got over that initial six weeks of feeling horrible, then I started to recover fairly quickly.”

However even now, months later, he said he still had some issues with his lungs and some nerve damage, and one of his vocal chords ‘refuses to move’. But he is busy training for the epic cycle ride ahead.

Laurence, who lives in Thakeham, said the coronavirus restrictions were taking their toll on intensive care staff – who were having to wear head-to-toe PPE and were not allowed to let visitors into the ward. “I felt they were feeling they weren’t able to do their job properly,” he said.

But despite this, he said: “You never felt like you were just a body. They treat you so well. It’s just fantastic.”

Cycling the South Downs Way, which is the equivalent distance to 3.5 marathons, in just one day is described on its website as being ‘an extreme challenge’. But Laurence will be motivated to keep going by the thought of giving back to hospital staff. He said: “I wouldn’t want anyone to go through that – but I saw what a brilliant team they are. I can’t thank them enough.”

Support Laurence’s fundraiser in aid of Love Your Hospital, the dedicated charity for the hospital trust, at www.justgiving.com/fundraising/laurence-penn1