A DAD who spent almost six weeks in intensive care with Covid-19 in Barnsley Hospital is now planning to raise money for the unit which saved his life.
Tom Cook, 42, is cycling the 215-mile coast-to-coast route from Southport to Hornsea with a group of friends this summer as a way of giving back to the intensive care unit (ICU).
He will raise money via donations to his JustGiving page which he set up with help from Barnsley Hospital Charity.
Tom, a mechanic from Goldthorpe, will mark one year this July since he was admitted to hospital with severe Covid pneumonitis.
He said: “I was first admitted into Doncaster Hospital after having problems - they discharged me but then on July 13 I needed an ambulance to take me into Barnsley Hospital and ended up in intensive care.
“I couldn’t breathe and my lungs were hurting. I was actually placed into a coma for two and a half weeks with a ventilator keeping me alive - I stayed on the ICU until I was fit enough to be transferred to ward 18, where I spent a further week before being discharged on August 23.”
He would like the money raised to go towards equipment such as iPads so relatives can keep in touch with ICU patients.
Dr Tim Wenham, consultant in anaesthesia and intensive care medicine at Barnsley Hospital, added: “Tom is doing well now and is a really good advocate for what intensive care can do, and how people can get better after critical illness.
“We thank him for fundraising and wish him all the best for the future.”
