A teenager who spent almost four months in hospital fighting Covid has been reunited with some of the nurses who saved her life.
Areeb Khan was just 16 when she collapsed at her Chadwell Heath home last summer and was rushed to King George Hospital with oxygen levels below 50 per cent.
She was then transferred to Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge for extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) and spent six weeks in critical care there.
Areeb said: "Genuinely, there are no words that I can use to express my gratitude to the doctors, nurses and everyone who looked after me in critical care.
"If it were not for them not giving up on me and making quick decisions then I would not be here today.
"The treatment, the care I received, I am truly thankful for all of it."
ECMO is a form of mechanical support which acts like an artificial lung outside the body to oxygenate the blood.
A last resort for patients who are in acute or severe respiratory failure when other interventions have been unsuccessful, Areeb was on ECMO for four weeks.
Areeb, now 17, recently returned to Royal Papworth for a follow-up clinic, where she was able to thank some of those who cared for her in person.
The Rotary Young Citizen Child of Courage award recipient got the all-clear at the appointment, accompanied by her mum Bushra and dad Saqib.
Bushra said: "We cannot say thank you enough.
"Her situation made us feel like we didn’t want to live ourselves if we didn’t have Areeb with us.
"I remember when she was being transferred to Papworth and I was begging the doctor to save her life - she was very poorly and we had no hope at that point."
Saqib added: "The staff were always helpful, not just for Areeb but also us, giving us hope.
“[They are] really amazing, they are like angels on the earth, working to save lives no matter the patient’s religion or background, or whether they are black, brown or white.
“They showed so much respect to us, to Areeb, as a human.”
After her time at Royal Papworth, Areeb moved to Queen’s Hospital in Romford to continue her recovery, which has included re-learning skills such as walking independently.
She will begin her A-Levels this September and hopes to become a surgeon one day.
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