FIRST CASE

March 2020

James Dixon was the first confirmed Covid-19 patient in Barnsley and spent 31 days in hospital – 14 of them on a ventilator in intensive care – squaring up to a touch-and-go fight for his life.

It was a fight James and his family feared he might lose on more than one occasion, with doctors admitting he had no more than a 50-50 chance of survival.

Speaking exclusively to the Chronicle, a grateful James said: “The staff in the hospital – and ICU in particular – are nothing short of super heroes.

“I can’t stress enough my appreciation for what they did for me.

“No words can do justice to the work everyone there is doing, they’re like soldiers going into battle.” James, of Monk Bretton, started feeling unwell with a high temperature and shivers but put off seeking medical help because he says he ‘didn’t want to be a burden on the NHS’.

“I just thought I could get over it by self-isolating, taking paracetamol and resting and I really didn’t want to cause a fuss.”

But over the next five days, his condition deteriorated dramatically as he struggled to breathe and his temperature continued to soar to 40 degrees.

“Then on St Patrick’s Day night, I was in bed, shivering but with a really high temperature and my wife said something had to be done.

“After speaking to 111, she called an ambulance and when it came, the paramedics were wearing full PPE equipment.

“Seeing them walk into the bedroom dressed in that gear hit me and made me realise just how ill I really was.”

Once in hospital, his condition continued to deteriorate and after two days, he ended up in the intensive care unit before being put into an induced coma so he could be placed on a ventilator. Moments before he was induced into the coma, staff phoned James’ wife who was self-isolating with their two boys, so they could communicate via video chat.

“No words can do justice to the work everyone is doing –they are like soldiers going into battle...”

Dr Steve Lobaz, consultant in anaesthetics and intensive care medicine, believes James would have died had he not gone into hospital when he did. He said: “James is the same age as me, has two kids like me, making this even more personal to see him in this situation.

“Knowing that there was a high chance of him dying – he was at least 50-50 even with intensive care due to the severity of the disease – raised emotions high.” James, a self-employed media freelancer, was finally discharged from hospital with a round of applause and a ‘guard of honour’ 31 days after he first stepped onto the site.