Coronavirus: Canvey Island mum feared she would never see daughter again
A mum who spent three days on a ventilator with coronavirus said she feared she would never see her daughter again and sent goodbye messages to her family from her hospital bed.
Joanne Campbell, 41, from Essex, spent eight days at Southend Hospital as she fought the disease. The police medic thanked everyone who looked after her. Arlene Bartholomew, from the hospital, said it was "happy endings like Joanne's that have kept us going". Ms Campbell, from Canvey Island, said her mum and sister saw she had "taken a turn for the worse" and called an ambulance. She said she was put on a ventilator within 30 minutes after being told she had Covid-19. During that half hour, she said she quickly sent text messages to her family saying her goodbyes but also asking them to look after her eight-year-old daughter Isabelle. "I thought 'that's it, it's my time'... I didn't want to go and I had to fight it," said Ms Campbell. The treatment was successful and she went home on 4 April and was reunited with her family. She said it was an "emotional meeting of mum and daughter" when she got to see her daughter again. "Especially as neither one of us knew if we would see one another again," she said. Ms Campbell, who has recently returned to work, added: "It goes without saying, but I am so grateful to every single person who looked after me at the hospital, not that I remember any of their faces as they were all wearing masks and full PPE, so all I remember are lots of caring eyes. "I wouldn't recognise any of them if I walked past them but I shall be forever in their debt." Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email eastofenglandnews@bbc.co.uk