A young dad-of-two from Fife has urged Scots to get vaccinated after he was left critically unwell with Covid.
Kirkcaldy man Adam Sharp ended up in a coma when he caught coronavirus in November, with doctors battling to keep him alive after his lungs shut down.
The 32-year-old has made it home in time for Christmas with his wife and two young children, and wants to use his story to urge people to get vaccinated and come forward for their booster jabs.
Adam told The Courier that until he caught the virus on November 18 this year, he had been naïve and unconcerned about catching it.
Knowing others who had caught coronavirus and only experienced mild symptoms, he thought he would be able to recover easily because he was young, fit and healthy, so did not get vaccinated.
Healthy dad left fighting for life
But after mild illness for five days after catching the virus, Adam quickly deteriorated and NHS Fife medics at Victoria Hospital in Kirkcaldy had to force oxygen into his failing lungs to keep him alive.
He became critically unwell, and his family feared the worst when he was put into a coma, with doctors unable to say whether he would wake at all, or in what condition he would be in if he did.
“I know around 30 people who have had it and they were fine, and I just thought I’d be the same,” Adam said.
“I wasn’t even wearing a mask in shops or anything, I was pretty naïve and not really scared about it.
“There’s a lot of people who won’t get vaccinated because they think the government is scaremongering.
‘Believe me, Covid can kill you’
“But believe someone like me, I can tell you that it happens and it can kill you.”
After testing positive Adam was unwell for around five days but his wife had asked him to phone the doctor as she was concerned about his rising temperature.
“Reluctantly I agreed and the doctor was going to give me a prescription, but he phoned me back and asked me to come down,” Adam said.
“He wasn’t concerned about my temperature or the coughing, but he was worried about how quickly I was breathing, so I was admitted to hospital.”
Adam has little to no memory of events after he was admitted to hospital, but his wife Kim was at his side throughout.
She described the experience as traumatising, with Adam quickly going downhill and becoming critically unwell shortly after he was admitted to hospital.
The following Friday, November 26, Adam deteriorated and the decision was made to put him on a ventilator.
“The consultant took me to the family room, and at the point he said he wasn’t able to tell me how things would go,” Kim said, adding: “They were taking it hour by hour at that stage.”
NHS Fife medics used a technique called “proning” to try to help Adam’s lungs, turning him on to his front for up to 16 hours.
At first they feared this wasn’t working, and Kim said at this stage doctors contacted specialists in Aberdeen so her husband could be considered for ECMO — a technique where a patient’s blood is oxygenated outside their body by a machine to allow their lungs to heal.
There was a one in three chance I had of survival. It was a bit of a miracle.
Adam Sharp
“Luckily after proning for the second time Adam seemed to improve when he was turned back over,” Kim added.
After over a week on the ventilator, doctors started weaning Adam off the drugs that were keeping him asleep, allowing him to take over his breathing for himself to see how he would cope.
But it was at this point Kim tested positive for coronavirus herself, and after spending day after day at Adam’s bedside, she was forced to isolate just as he was waking up.
Now at home, Adam and his family are “enjoying the little things “and looking forward to spending Christmas together.
“We managed to put the Christmas tree up, and that wasn’t something we thought we’d be able to do together,” Kim said.
“It’s our first wedding anniversary and we had a hotel booked and were supposed to be going away, but now our thoughts have changed.
“We’re happy just to have breakfast together or go to the shops, little things we took for granted.”
Jab plea
Adam’s recovery is ongoing, and he still experiences breathlessness at home and finds things like climbing the stairs difficult.
Kim is also anxious, checking his oxygen levels regularly.
The couple both want their story to be used to encourage people to get their coronavirus vaccine.
“I had never been ill before, the most I’d had was a cold, and I just thought I didn’t need the vaccine,” Adam said.
“I was sick of hearing about Covid-19.
“But after my experience I would tell everybody to wear masks and get vaccinated. It’s scary, and it can kill you.
“There was a one in three chance I had of survival, and the hospital staff made me realise just how lucky I was. It was a bit of a miracle.
“If my story can convince just one person to get vaccinated, that will be worth it,” he added.
NHS Fife Medical Director, Dr Christopher McKenna, said: “There is clear evidence that vaccination greatly reduces your risk of becoming seriously unwell, and indeed of dying from the effects of COVID.
‘Many Fifers could have avoided hospital by taking up vaccine’
“Right here in Fife we have seem numerous examples of people who are unvaccinated, some of whom are as young as their twenties or thirties, who were otherwise well and who have required admission to hospital after contracting the virus.
“Very many of these people could have avoided becoming seriously unwell by taking up the offer of vaccination when it was offered.”
You can get more information on how to book your coronavirus vaccine from NHS Scotland.
