Coronavirus: Dorset patient recovers after 60 days in intensive care

A man who had a heart transplant and was undergoing chemotherapy has made a "miracle" recovery from coronavirus after 60 days in intensive care.

Ian Cobb, a 48-year-old grandfather from Wool in Dorset, fell seriously ill with Covid-19 at the start of April.

His family said they had "feared the worst" but Mr Cobb left intensive care on 3 June, the date of his wedding anniversary and his wife's birthday.

They added that it was "the best present we could have asked for".

Mr Cobb was diagnosed in 2014 with amyloidosis, an incurable condition that led to him requiring a heart transplant in the same year.

It also resulted in him needing a bone marrow transplant and regular chemotherapy.

He started developing coronavirus symptoms while he was being treated for unexplained spinal fractures in hospital and was discharged by doctors who believed he would be safer at home.

However, he started experiencing breathing difficulties and was readmitted three days later.

Danielle Thompson, his stepdaughter, said it felt like "being hit in the gut" when the family received the news that he had been put on a ventilator.

"It was a case of hoping for the best but preparing for the worst," she said.

"I had it in my head that that was it - that we weren't going to speak to him again, that he wasn't going to wake up."

She said the family experienced "a lot of ups and downs" as doctors explained that they would not be able to save him if his organs began to fail.

However, he became stronger when doctors took him off the ventilator and was applauded by staff at Poole Hospital as his bed was wheeled out of the intensive care unit.

Mr Cobb has now been able to sit up and talk to his family on the phone and is looking forward to hearing when he will be allowed home.

"He proved us all wrong - it's a miracle," said Mrs Thompson.

"I'm just glad that we can spread some positivity in such gloomy times."