An inspirational Dundee joiner has walked out of intensive care after winning his near ten-week battle against Covid-19.
Within days he was moved into the intensive care unit and placed on a ventilator.
His wife, Joyce has spoken of the nightmare she endured watching him struggle with the killer disease, the joy of hearing his first words after weeks in an induced coma and her indescribable gratitude to the frontline heroes who saved him.
Ninewells staff lined the corridor out of ICU earlier this week to applaud Bob as he was taken to another ward to continue his recovery.
His wife is still waiting to be able to hug him again but said she will patiently wait for the moment she feared she would never experience.
The couple, of Balunie Avenue in Dundee, had recently returned from Poland when Bob began to feel unwell.
“The other couple we were with have been fine but he might have got it there, we just don’t know,” said Joyce.
“He was lethargic – I told him I thought he was just being lazy – and he tried to shake it with a hot toddy.”
Bob was checked and his temperature was normal but after almost a week of being unwell, paramedics were called and he was rushed into hospital.
VIDEO: Praise for NHS heroes as Dundee man survives near 10-week battle with Covid-19
“When he was being taken away he even asked me for his wallet and bus pass so he could get home from the hospital,” said Joyce.
However, instead of the trip back across the city, the popular joiner began a journey which took him the brink of death.
“He just wasn’t waking up and that went on for about ten days,” Joyce continued.
She used Face Time so her desperately ill husband could still hear her voice and eventually, Bob woke and waved to her.
“He took a chest and lung infection, which set him back, but then he was able to speak to me and said ‘love you’ and blew me a kiss.
“It has been a complete emotional rollercoaster. Every day I would get up and mark another day off the calendar, but you just lose track of the weeks.
“He seems to be really good now – I think Rob knows what he has come through and he couldn’t believe how long he had been in there.”
Joyce added: “It is sheer determination now, but I cannot think of enough to say about the doctors and nurses in Ninewells who have kept him alive.
“The nurses appeared at my door this week with flowers, chocolates and a card signed by Rob. They have been there for me all the way through this and are totally amazing.”
ICU nurse Valerie Guilford, who has been caring for Bob, said, “He truly is an inspiration to all of us.
“All of the ICU team will miss Bob’s banter and wish him all the best with his recovery.”
