Grace Victory reunites with doctor after Covid coma cardiac arrest

Grace Victory Grace and Dr VivGrace Victory
Grace Victory and Dr Viv Sathianathan gave a talk to trainee medics about her time in intensive care

A YouTuber who went into cardiac arrest while in a coma with Covid has reunited with the doctor who saved her life.

Grace Victory, 31, from High Wycombe, was put in a coma on Boxing Day 2020, just after giving birth to her son.

Dr Viv Sathianathan was the lead consultant on shift when she went into cardiac arrest three weeks later.

Ms Victory, who is also an author, said she felt privileged returning to Northwick Park Hospital in London to give a talk with him for trainee staff.

Grace Victory Grace and Lee in hospitalGrace Victory
Grace gave birth to her son Cyprus by emergency C-section two days before being put in a coma

"It was an honour to talk with Dr Viv about the good and the bad from my 98-day stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) and to give advice on things that could be improved upon from a patient perspective," she said.

"Dr Viv said my heart stopped beating whilst I was laying on my front, which is literally a worst-case scenario, but he and a team of 10 nurses and doctors brought me back to life. And because of them I am here. Alive, breathing, living, thriving."

Grace Victory Grace VictoryGrace Victory
Grace Victory has 250,000 followers on Instagram and a similar amount on YouTube

Dr Sathianathan, clinical lead for intensive care medicine, said: "We are all extremely pleased that Grace has made such an impressive recovery.

"We always strive to learn and improve and it was really informative to hear Grace talk to the team about the good and the bad during her time with us."

Ms Victory, who was in a coma for three months, said the pair also spoke about the need for better psychological support for ICU patients and staff traumatised by the pandemic. She hopes to work on this idea with the charity Mind, for which she is an ambassador.

@gracevictory/Instagram Grace and son@gracevictory/Instagram
The YouTube star asked doctors to deliver her baby early because she knew how poorly she was

When the vlogger woke up in March 2021, she was finally able to meet her 10-week-old son Cyprus Sevyn for the first time.

He was born by emergency C-section on Christmas Eve 2020, when Ms Victory was seven months pregnant, because she was so sick with coronavirus.

Doctors have been amazed by her recovery, she said, after they initially only gave her a 5% chance of survival.

Grace Victory Grace Lee and CyprusGrace Victory
Grace and her partner Lee are preparing to welcome a baby girl into the family

Ms Victory is now pregnant with her second child, a little girl, and is due to give birth next month.

"I'm now focusing on birth prep, relaxation and spending time with my bestie Cyprus Sevyn. I feel as if a chapter is closing and a new one is beginning and I could not be more excited," she added.

line break

Find BBC News: East of England on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. If you have a story suggestion email [email protected]