A father-of-six who had both of his legs amputated after testing positive for Covid on the first day of lockdown suffers from PTSD and still has nightmares about the procedure ‘three or four times a week’.
Scott Green, 50, was rushed to hospital after falling ill on March 24, 2020 – the day after Boris Johnson announced national restrictions to curb the rapid spread of coronavirus.
He spent 16 weeks at James Cook Hospital, Middlesbrough, after a diabetes reaction to Covid left doctors and nurses tirelessly fighting to save his life.
Mr Green, father to five sons and a daughter, said the last thing he remembered was being rushed to the hospital before waking up around two months later.
He said: ‘I can’t remember what happened after that – I had no memory at all. My wife tells me we got to Middlesbrough hospital in a taxi.
‘The next thing I know I’m waking up a month later out of intensive care, taking a tube out of my mouth, and they ended up telling me I’d lost my legs to Covid.
‘I didn’t know I had Covid. It reacted with my diabetes and shut the pulses down in my legs, so I lost all blood flow in my legs and they went black. It was either take them off, or I died.’
Mr Green, from Redcar, Yorkshire, said it has taken him the two years since the amputation to pick up the courage to speak out about his traumatic ordeal.
He continued: ‘I have a nightmare about 3 or 4 times a week and it’s me sitting there with my head in my hands telling me that I’m losing my legs.
Scott Green celebrates after being released from hospital 16 weeks after he fell ill with coronavirus
Mr Green is father to five sons and a daughter. He has moved the family into a bungalow as he now uses an electric wheelchair
‘I don’t know if it was from the day they told me, or if it’s just something in my head.
‘Last year I was still fighting. I’ve been suffering from PTSD, and I am also suffering from depression as I lost my son to cancer when he was 17.’
Mr Green now uses an electric wheelchair and, as a result, has been forced to move his family into a bungalow.
He also drives an adapted car which is controlled solely through the use of his hands.
Despite the trauma, though, Mr Green revealed he is slowly coming to terms with his new way of life.
He said: ‘Now I really am trying to look after my diabetes. I’m trying to control it a lot better, I’m doing lots of different types of exercise.
‘I know I’m doing better than I was. I was 18 stone but I’m down to 13 stone now. I lost a lot of weight when I was in the hospital.
Doctors and nurses smile with Mr Green after saving his life when a diabetes reaction to Covid caused him to fall seriously ill
‘I was talking to a woman from a charity for about 12 weeks. I got it all out – and I can tell people a lot more about what’s happened now.
‘I’m more confident about talking to people and I don’t really care about what people think I look like. I don’t care if people look at me anymore.’
Mr Green also paid tribute to his wife and the hospital staff who saved his life.
He added: ‘My wife has been with me with everything. If it wasn’t for my wife, I know I wouldn’t be here now.
‘I was in the hospital for about 16 weeks and if it wasn’t for the hospital and the nurses and doctors I wouldn’t be here now.
‘You always hear stories about people who have died. I thought – I had Covid and I beat it. Ok, I lost my legs, but I still beat it.’
