Dad reveals breathing technique helped him recover from coronavirus in intensive care unit
23 April 2020, 11:48
A man who was admitted to hospital with Covid-19 has revealed a breathing technique helped him recover.
A dad who battled coronavirus in an intensive care unit (ICU) has revealed the breathing technique that doctors credited with helping him to recover.
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Speaking on Good Morning Britain today, Rob Thomas, 59, revealed that his sister - an ICU nurse - had told him to 'just keep breathing' when he was first admitted to the ward.
He said: "I took these words with me. In the ICU, that’s all I did. I made them sit me upright because I felt like I was suffocating on my back.
"I just sat there watching the clock and I got into a deep breathing pattern. Doctors think that deep breathing pattern saved me from going on a ventilator."
Rob said that he was 'kind of out of it' for the first few days in the unit, and revealed that his family were told he had a 50 per cent chance of survival.
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He revealed that he started showing symptoms of Covid-19 a few days after receiving treatment for sepsis on 30 March.
His wife Viv said their family 'fell apart' when he was taken away in an ambulance, adding: "He was somewhere where he knew no one and he was so ill. I couldn’t be there to hold his hand or give moral support. My family kept me going, just the support of everyone has been amazing."
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