Novichok victim Charlie Rowley ‘feeling positive’ and ‘hoping to get out of hospital in next two or three weeks’
Novichok poisoning victim Charlie Rowley has told ITV News he is optimistic about his recovery and hopes to be discharged from hospital within a month.
Mr Rowley exclusively told ITV News Correspondent Rupert Evelyn he is “feeling positive about the news” he’s hearing from doctors and is “hoping to get out of hospital in the next two or three weeks”.
He is currently being treated for meningitis and loss of eyesight in Salisbury District Hospital.
He says his eyesight has “improved” but is not yet fully restored and says there is still “a bit of meningitis in the system”.
Speaking from the hospital ward he shares with six other patients, Mr Rowley said that he’s grateful for the support he’s been given and looking forward to the moment he’s well enough to be discharged.
Mother-of-three Dawn Sturgess, 44, and her partner Mr Rowley, 45, were exposed to Novichok in June 2018.
Ms Sturgess died nine days after being admitted to hospital, while Mr Rowley's condition has stabilised.
The incident in Amesbury is the second major probe involving the nerve agent Novichok this year, following the case of Sergei and Yulia Skripal who were left critically ill in March.
In June, Mr Rowley found a sealed box in a cellophane wrapper containing a perfume bottle and gave it to his partner of two years as a gift.
Unbeknownst to him, inside the bottle was the nerve agent Novichok.
He remained unconscious for weeks - waking up to learn that Ms Sturgess had died after both of them had been exposed to the substance.
Dawn Sturgess on CCTV the day before she fell ill
Speaking to ITV News in July about the loss of his partner, Mr Rowley paid tribute to the 44-year-old mother-of-three.
"Dawn was a loving, caring mother," he said. "She had so much time for her daughter and her two boys. She was a very caring, loving woman."