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New mum who battled Covid while pregnant returns home after three months in hospital

A first-time mother who battled coronavirus while she was pregnant has been finally allowed to return home.

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Ellie Wright has been able to hold her baby boy, Leo, for the first time after battling Covid-19

Ellie Wright, 20, from Beechdale in Walsall, couldn't start life-saving treatment after contracting Covid-19 until her baby had been delivered.

Leo was born by emergency caesarean, 10 weeks premature at 3.07pm on January 12 – and needed to be put on a ventilator for 24 hours at Walsall Manor Hospital’s neonatal unit. Meanwhile Ellie was fighting coronavirus and pneumonia – and was seriously ill in the hospital’s critical care unit.

In February she was finally able to meet her baby boy and hold his hand for the first time – is now being allowed to return home to continue her recovery, just ahead of her 21st birthday.

Ellie meets her son Leo for the first time

Ellie left Walsall Manor Hospital last month to continue her recovery with the Walsall Community Stroke Service at Hollybank House in Willenhall.

Here she has been receiving daily physiotherapy and occupational therapy as part of her rehabilitation and she is now able to walk a few steps using a stick, get up and down stairs and has been doing lots of exercises for her upper body strength too.

She has been able to see Leo every day. He is now 12 weeks old and weighing 10 pounds, after being born prematurely weighing just 4 pounds and 4 ounces.

Leo was delivered 10 weeks early on January 12, when Ellie was 30 weeks pregnant as his mum needed life-saving treatment after contracting Covid-19. He was cared for in the neonatal unit at Walsall Manor Hospital and had to go on a ventilator for 24 hours.

Meanwhile Ellie was fighting for her life and had never even touched her baby until critical care staff and neonatal staff worked together to arrange for his incubator to be brought into the critical care unit in February. Ellie was only able to reach out and touch him as she was still very weak.

Then on March 11, Ellie was able to hold her baby son for the first time.

Ellie Wright is finally returning home after her battle with Covid-19

Ellie has been looking forward to being back home with mother Michelle, father Mark and her brother Kai and sister Chloe – and she has missed her husky dog Luna and mother’s pork curry.

She said: "Every time I have had FaceTime chats with the family, Luna has just looked out the window so I can't wait to see her again.

"And I really want to be back with my brother and sister. It’s been so hard and upsetting not being able to see them.

“I don’t remember anything about being so ill because I was in a coma for three weeks but my mum saved my life because she was the one who called an ambulance and said I needed to go to hospital – I didn’t want to go to hospital at all.

“I also know that my poor mum’s really been worried for so long about me and Leo so I hope she will feel better herself now.

“There was a point when I remember having an hallucination where I saw a bright light and my nan, who died ten years ago, appeared, really clearly, and told me “It’s not your turn.” I know now how serious things were and that I came really close to dying.

“I also remember Amanda in critical care as she would wash and dress me and was lovely. She reminded me of my mum.

"I felt nervous about leaving critical care to go on a ward because I didn’t know the staff but they were all friendly and when I came to Hollybank House I knew this was the right place to be to carry on getting stronger.”

Ellie has been able to venture outside in the sunshine during her rehabilitation and that has made her feel better, although she admits that she will still need to take things slowly once at home to get her confidence back.

Ellie Wright is finally returning home after her battle with Covid-19

She said: “I feel a bit scared about going out to start with but it will be nice to sit in the garden with my friends. I’ve been able to talk to them over the last few weeks and that has been great.

"My best friend had sent me 100 messages while I was so ill. It will be good to get into my own routine with Leo as well – mum has left his pushchair for me to work out how to put up and I want to build up to taking him for a walk.

“My physio has been hard at times and I’ve been in pain. It has been like learning how to do things for the first time but I have also been pushing myself and I think I’ve surprised the staff sometimes because I have been determined. “

Ellie's mother, Michelle Stankevitch, said it had been a difficult time for the family. She said: "When Ellie talks about the hallucination of seeing her nan – my mum Margaret – I had actually driven to my mum’s grave and said: “Send her back to me” because things were so serious.

“But I’ve got to be honest and say she’s giving her orders again and being bossy so she is definitely getting back to her old self. We will always be grateful to every single member of staff from the hospital and Hollybank House for what they’ve done for our family.”

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