Ambulance drives patient who almost died of coronavirus 150 miles to recover with RUH nurse daughter

A woman who almost died from coronavirus in a Sussex hospital has been driven 150 miles to recover at her daughter's home in Bath.

82-year-old Maria Bermingham was taken to hospital with a fractured pelvis and spinal fractures after falling at her home near Brighton.

Maria contracted Covid-19 while receiving treatment in hospital, and when she quickly deteriorated doctors didn't think she'd survive.

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However, Maria made a surprise recovery and was then driven 150 miles by ambulance from Lewes to Bath, where her RUH nurse daughter Mara Richards could care for her during her recovery.

Maria says she doesn't remember much about her near-death experience with coronavirus, but that she remembers having 'lots of nightmares' and being hot and tired.

Maria's daughter, 47-year-old Mara, said her family feared the worst while her mother was fighting for her life.

Mara said Maria was at 'death's door' during her time in hospital, but that the hospital staff who treated her were 'amazing'.

Mara is taking a couple of weeks off from her job as a nurse at Royal United Hospital in Bath to care for her mother, with her husband and children pitching in to help too.

A makeshift hospital room, complete with hospital bed, hoist and commode, has been set up in Mara's home, as Maria's home near Brighton was not suitable for her to be discharged to.

Maria met Mara's father, Peter Bermingham when he was a junior doctorat the RUH back in the early 1970s.

Maria was a psychiatric ward sister then and they married in 1972 inBath.

Peter is now a retired consultant psychiatrist.

Maria said she has enjoyed catching up with the goings-on in Bath, having not been back since she moved 45 years ago.