'They are my heroes' - ICU nurses thank colleagues after surviving coronavirus

  • Video report by ITV News Correspondent Sejal Karia

Nurses have been at the coronavirus frontline since the outbreak took hold in the UK.

And it is not just the public they have been caring for.

With NHS workers so vulnerable to Covid-19, they have often been called on to treat their colleagues.

Millie Magadlela, a NHS nurse for 39 years, was given a round of applause when she was discharged from the intensive care unit (ICU) the University Hospital of North Tees, the hospital where she works after being treated for Covid-19.

"When I went out I saw all these people they were clapping and showing support and love to me," she told ITV News.

'They are my heroes', Millie Magadlela said of her nursing colleagues. Credit: ITV News

She described her colleagues as her "heroes" and credits them with saving her life.

"What came into my head (was) 'all these people have really saved my life'.

"I had no words to explain how I felt about the whole thing.

"I just felt so loved.

"They are risking their lives," Ms Magadlela told ITV News.

"It's because they are so devoted, determined and compassionate.

"I'm here today only because of them.

"They have given me a second chance to live."

Sister Lisa Cox feels the same way after spending five days as a Covid-19 patient in the intensive care unit she works at.

Sister Lisa Cox has gone back to work on the ward she spent five-days on as a patient. Credit: ITV News

Ms Cox told ITV News her life was saved by her critical care colleagues at University Hospital in Lewisham in south London.

"I owe them everything," she told ITV News.

"I owe them my life, and I think that it's thanks to them that my children still have a mum."

She is now back on the ward helping her colleagues.

"I had such fantastic care by the team that I work with and I want to be with them.

"I'm part that team."

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