NHS nurse survives Covid-19 despite having kidney transplant

An NHS nurse has recovered from coronavirus despite recently having a kidney transplant.

Charlene Nelson managed to fight off the disease after spending just one week in hospital.

The mother-of-one, who works as a nurse at Sandwell Hospital in the West Midlands, started suffering from a shortness of breath on April 12.

Ms Nelson underwent a kidney transplant in 2015 – and admitted she was “very scared” for the first two days after contracting Covid-19.

The 37-year-old said: “I just couldn’t breathe. I called for an ambulance and it all felt like a big blur.

“I got into A&E and then I was put into isolation because of my symptoms. I was treated with antibiotics and tested for coronavirus.

“Because of my kidney condition, I was transferred to another hospital for further treatment.

“My results for Covid-19 came back positive. I was in a bad way for the first two days and I was very scared.

“But I soon started responding to the treatment and began improving.”

Ms Nelson continued: “I think there may be people out there who think they don’t need to go to hospital or believe that their situation will worsen if they do go.

“However, my condition definitely improved.

“I would also strongly urge people to stay indoors to protect those who are most vulnerable in our society.”

Ms Nelson said she did not know how she contracted Covid-19 as she had been wearing the correct PPE during her time working at the hospital and had not been treating coronavirus patients.

She said: “It could have been from handling post or when I was food shopping.

“I suppose we’ll never know where I got it from, which just shows how cautious we need to be.”

Now, the NHS worker has urged people to seek medical help sooner if they feel like they are deteriorating.

She said: “If I hadn’t dialled 999, who knows what sort of condition I would be in now.

“The care I received was brilliant and NHS staff are doing everything they can to help patients.

“I am so much better than I was a week ago. I’m just glad that I got treatment when I did.”