Neil McCafferty after his miraculous COVID-19 recovery - ‘It’s great to be home. I know I am one of the lucky ones’

Last Friday after 111 days in hospital the father-of-five returned home to continue what he knows will be a long recuperation from an illness that nearly killed him.

“It’s great to be home. I’ve still got a fair way to go. I’m constantly reminded that I’m the lucky one. So many haven’t made it. It’s hard to take and accept and be elated, having survived compared to others.

“It’s a long road to recovery but I’m well supported by my great family, my wife, my son and all my daughters and the extended family,” Neil said, speaking to the ‘Journal’ from his home this week.

On October 10, 2020, Neil was admitted to Altnagelvin with a gall bladder infection.

A week later, after his condition deteriorated drastically it was confirmed he had contracted the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

Aged 67, suffering from diabetes and with five stents in his heart as a result of previously diagnosed cardiovascular issues, he was extremely vulnerable to the disease.

He was so ill he was taken to the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) where he spent six weeks fighting for his life.

Since his return home at the weekend his wife Bridie and son Michael have been showing him some photographs that were taken while he was being ventilated in ICU during those horrific weeks in the autumn.

For most of this time Neil was oblivious to what was going on. His family were in agony.

His son Michael explains: “When in ICU he was on 100 per cent oxygen. He had a drain on his gall bladder. He had support for his heart. Five stents in his heart. His kidneys had failed. His bowels had failed. Everything. They said he is the sickest person they are treating in ICU. But the staff were amazing. They phoned us each day. They were so informative. They were so respectful and so supportive, not only to my dad but to us as a family.”

The family say no words can describe their gratitude to the health care workers who saved Neil’s life.

Bridie observes: “Some of the health workers are only young girls in their twenties. They don’t sign up to take their lives in their hands. They sign up to care for people, not to catch diseases off people and then being worried about taking it back to their families.”

There came a point when the family feared their beloved father and husband wouldn’t be coming home. On October 17 when they got the call to say that Neil’s condition had worsened and that he was critically ill Michael asked the medical team for a worst case prognosis.

“They said 24 to 48 hours. He’s very ill. We don’t expect him to pull through. 24 hours turned into 48 hours, turned into three days, turned into four days and we were sitting here.”

Neil acknowledges this was harder for his family than it was for him.

“I’ve just been reading a hospital report which details everything that happened to me from October 10 and I don’t really remember much from October 10 until November.

“The only memories I have are of horrible nightmares. There are five I remember that all involved me in mortal danger and about to be killed or torn apart and I couldn’t get out of it.

“The hard time was for my family. I was just lying there being treated by a fantastic bunch of nurses and health care professionals and surgeons and doctors and cleaners and everything.

“The whole team pulled me through but my family were sitting together every day and talking to me even though I was unconscious and the ICU were facilitating that so that my children could talk to me. They are the ones who went through it. I was unconscious,” he says.

The family tried to keep the spirits up as they could but, as Michael explains, their home was like a wake house.

“Everybody had days when they just cried it out and tried to support each other. It was a living nightmare,” he says.

Miraculously, Neil pulled through and eventually regained consciousness.

“My family have been gradually showing me images of ICU. I haven’t seen them all yet but they are really scary. I don’t know why I survived or how I survived. I’m so glad to be back with my family. ‘You must be a fighter,’ I keep getting that,” he says.

His reawakening was just the beginning of a long road back to recovery, however. The toll the SARS-CoV-2 virus charges on the survivor is heavy and Neil has spent the past several weeks in rehabilitation at the Waterside Hospital.

“It’s scary learning to walk again...my first recollection of coming to and being any way sentient, I couldn’t move my fingers. That’s how weak I was, flat on my back in the bed. I’ve come a long way but it’s three steps forward and one step back. There are so many organs that were affected.”

Back home Neil now has had the surreal experience of reading the well wishes that he and the family received while they were at their lowest ebb.

He had spent a lifetime travelling the world as part of his job in the textile business and the positive messages of love and solidarity have been winging their way to Derry from around the globe.

“It’s overwhelming. I’m sitting here now going through cards and messages that were all received when I was unconscious. I cannot believe it. You never believe you affect so many people in your life.

“They are from all over the world. I’ve done a fair bit of travelling. I’ve cards and well-wishers from China, New Zealand, South Africa, Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, Egypt, the Middle East. People I have met throughout my working life.

“The biggest one I had was from an old school friend who wrote me a very personal letter and I haven’t seen him for many, many, many years. He’s from Derry but he has been out of the town for a very long time and he sent me this very personal letter telling me how he looked up to me during our time together at St. Columb’s. It really makes you think.”

He has even received messages from music legends Christy Moore and Eddie Readers, his beloved Wolverhampton Wanderers football clubs and Lurgan’s unofficial Celtic mascot and number one Bhoys fan Jay Beatty.

The McCaffertys experience of our health care staff who have been at the coal face of the pandemic reflects that of many other families. Michael testifies to this: “Those people in ICU are angels and saints.”

The family are equally grateful to the people of Derry and beyond who sent their love and support during their darkest days.

“There was a tsunami of prayer which is very much appreciated and there is no doubt it helped. We had Catholic, Protestant, Muslim. People of all faiths.

“The people of Derry have been unbelievable. We’ve had messages from people we didn’t even know.

“It’s a message of hope, of thanks and appreciation, of friends, family, people beyond, the NHS,” says Michael.

Bridie adds: “It’s a message to say how much love is in the world.”

As a mark of the family’s gratitude one of Neil’s grandsons - a talented young artists - has painted a number of tributes to the NHS and these will be presented to the Altnagelvin and Waterside Hospitals in due course.

Neil feels that he owes his life to those staff who cared for him around the clock in ICU in October and November and the family are going to organise an online concert to raise funds for the Western Trust.

But Neil also wants to send out an important message to the coronavirus refuseniks who still don’t take it seriously.

“You wonder why these people, when they see myself and so many other examples of people whose lives have been ruined, maybe they have died, maybe they have survived, don’t believe that it is real. Even the survivors, nobody gets away completely scot free. That’s the bottom line.”