Covid intensive care nurse wins dream trip to Barbados

Leeanne Campbell spent her 40th birthday on April 28 holding the hands of seriously ill patients at Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock.

Between shifts she continued to nurse her husband Alex, who was diagnosed with a rare brain tumour days before his own 40th birthday in October last year.

Although benign, Acoustic Neuroma tumours can be life-threatening if they grow large and press against the brainstem or brain and Alex’s was in the most serious category.

Leeanne said: “Doctors said if it was not removed he would die or he would be paralysed.

“Alex had noticed some symptoms but they were very non-specific. He had gone deaf in one ear but I thought it might be wax so I syringed his ears but at the back of my mind I thought something is not right here.”

Scans showed her husband had a second, smaller tumour on his pituitary gland. He was referred for  neurosurgery at the Queen Elizabeth University Hospital to remove the bigger tumour, an operation that took 14 hours.

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While the surgery was a success, the 40-year-old suffered serious complications in the weeks that followed.

Leeanne said: "The recovery was terrible.

“He was moved quite quickly from ICU to a ward but his condition deteriorated. Spinal fluid started to drip from his nose and he had to have another operation.

“He then developed an infection and needed 12 weeks of intravenous anti-biotics. That’s when we thought he would die because his body was quite septic. He was really very unwell.”

Doctors chose not to removed the tumour on his pituitary gland because it is not causing any problems at the moment.

The nurse had to take time off work to care for Alex, who works as an air traffic controller at Prestwick Airport,  at their home in Kilmarnock, after he was released from hospital. The after effects of his brain tumour are similar to that of a stroke.

She said: “It’s been very hard, more so because we have three young children (Orren 11, Rohan, 8 and three-year-old Tauriel) but he’s coming back to me slowly.

“He’s started to walk and his facial droop is starting to heal.

“He’s still got disabilities. He’s completely deaf in his left ear and he can’t process sentences but he’s done amazingly well. He’s pushed himself really hard.”

Leeanne found out three days ago that she had won the holiday to Barbados after being nominated by her proud husband and said she is both “overwhelmed and excited.”

Twenty winners were chosen across the UK for the Barbados Cares NHS initiative, which was judged by a panel that included DJ Carl Cox, Michelin Star Chef Tom Aikens and actor David Harewood, MBE.

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Alex said: “I have no doubt that I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for Leeanne.

“It would have been so easy to get up and walk away. You find out the measure of someone when the chips are down. She was a power of support that got me through what I went through.

“When she’s at her work she’s so focussed and caring. She’s completely selfless.”

While she normally works in pre-op assessment at Crosshouse Hospital, she volunteered to move to intensive care when the pandemic struck.

She said: “I enjoyed the experience but it was harrowing and emotional because you are trying to be everything to your patient.

“You need to be their friend, their nurse and their family. Some days the patients were quite stable and your only job was to hold their hand and chat to them about random things.

“They are unconscious so you don’t know how much they are taking in but they do remember some things.”