A nurse is fighting for her life in hospital after a nasty bout of the flu led to her undergoing open- heart surgery. Kate Thomas, 33, underwent the emergency procedure last week and remains in a coma, reports the Liverpool Echo.
The 33-year-old's decline in health began when she fell ill with cold symptoms around a fortnight ago. Kate initially had a cold and a cough but her symptoms began to ease before getting worse, according to her mum Alison Thomas.
She said: "About two weeks ago she had a cough and a cold, with the usual cold symptoms. Then it kind of got better after a week, but it then got worse.
"Last Tuesday (November 29), it got worse again, Kate felt really weak, she couldn’t stand up and she felt really dizzy.
"She left it until Thursday and rang us to say she didn’t feel well. Her sister went to her and they rang 111.
"She then got told that she would get a call from the GP, who said it sounded like influenza and told her to rest, drink plenty of fluids and stay at home. They told her not to go to work and that they would sign her off for a couple of weeks."
Kate later rang 999 after claiming she was short of breath and had chest pains. She was then taken in an ambulance to Arrowe Park Hospital.
Alison said: "Within an hour of her being there they took her to intensive care. She went for a heart scan and we were waiting on those results to come back.
"Her sisters said they’d see her tomorrow - her oxygen levels seemed to be a lot better, so they left thinking that she was ok. About 10pm on Friday, Arrowe Park rang and said they needed to put Kate in a coma and move her to the heart centre in Wythenshawe, because the influenza had attacked her heart and she had heart failure.
"Her dad and I live in Somerset, so we planned to drive up on Saturday morning. But the surgeon from Wythenshawe rang and said Kate needed to go for emergency open-heart surgery and she needed to go now.
"They took her in for a process called a (VA) ECMO, which essentially replaces the heart’s functions so her heart can rest. They’re hoping to reduce the process slowly to make sure her body reacts ok to it.
"They were waiting for the heart transplant team to go and see Kate. It depends, when they take the ECMO machine away and see if the heart responds to it being taken away or not.
"If it doesn’t there is a chance of a heart transplant. It’s the machine keeping her alive at the moment."
As of yesterday, Kate remains in a coma, with her family informed that her heart failure was caused by the flu which then targeted her heart. However, medical staff are still waiting on biopsy results to ascertain if Kate's condition was worsened by any other conditions.
Alison praised the staff at the hospital for their work in caring for her daughter but also warned the nurse's fate could fall on anyone. She said: "The Wythenshawe hospital have got us a bungalow to stay in on site so we can be with Kate.
"They’ve been so good, the nurses, doctors and surgeons have been amazing. But it does tell people that this could happen to anyone,
"Kate is a theatre nurse at Alder Hey, she works so hard and this happened to her. It doesn’t happen to her.
"She’s a fit and healthy 33-year-old, you wouldn’t think something like this would happen to her. She loves her job, she’s there all the time, she takes all the overtime possible.
"Her bosses rang to say that everyone is in shock, everyone can’t believe it. She was always working, she loved her job.
"It’s a shock to everyone, it’s taken everyone by surprise - for this to happen from having the flu."
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