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A nurse who has recovered from coronavirus has described the moment of waking up in intensive care after having her life saved by her colleagues.

Millie Magadlela, 59, spent three days on a ventilator at the University Hospital of North Tees, in Stockton-on-Tees, and became their first Covid-19 patient to be discharged after being put on the oxygen machine. The nurse, who works on the surgical decision unit at the hospital, was applauded by her teary-eyed colleagues as she was wheeled out of ICU last week.

‘Fit and healthy’ Millie, who has worked for the NHS for 39 years, had never been hospitalised and said she could never ‘properly thank’ her colleagues for everything they did for her.



Speaking on Good Morning Britain, Millie said: ‘It was really a different experience to be a patient and see your colleagues working tirelessly to save your life. It was very, very different for me.’


Millie’s colleagues cried and cheered as she was wheeled out of intensive care (Picture: PA)

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‘When they took me to ICU they told me everything they were going to do, including that they were going to sedate me,’ Millie said.

‘After three days I woke up and I didn’t know what was going on.’

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But Millie was so elated to be discharged she didn’t realise the date – it was her 35th wedding anniversary with husband Mongezi Spencer, 59, who works as a plater.

‘I called my husband, it was 2am, to come and pick me up and we didn’t even think of our anniversary,’ she said.

‘It was our 35th wedding anniversary, 45 years together, but we haven’t even celebrated.’

Millie first started to feel unwell on March 29 when she got home after finishing her night shift, with symptoms of fatigue and a high temperature.

Millie said she can’t ever thank her colleagues for what they did for her (Picture: ITV)

The nurse said she had never been hospitalised before (Picture: PA)

She said: ‘I was treating people who were suspected cases, we didn’t know if they were positive or not.

‘But I was treating a really poorly patient and we weren’t sure if he was going to make it – and that’s around the time I started feeling symptoms.

‘At the time I did feel protected, We had gloves, a mask and an apron’.

She isolated at home with her husband for the next few days but her symptoms worsened and she developed painful aches in her knees and lower back, along with cramp and abdominal pain.

The nurse said she had so little energy she couldn’t even wash herself for two days and was bed-bound wrapped in blankets going hot and cold.

She dialled 111 and an ambulance was sent to take her to the hospital where she was eventually taken to intensive care and put on a ventilator.

Colleague Steph Gale said Millie’s recovery was the boost the team needed (Picture: ITV)

When she finally pulled through, hospital staff were left in tears as she was discharged and taken home.



Critical care co-ordinator at the hospital, Steph Gale said: ‘It was a morale booster, there were a lot of tears from Millie and her colleagues that work alongside Millie.

‘It definitely was a big boost we all needed to help push through these busy times.’

Millie, who said she feels ‘very proud’ to be an NHS nurse, intends to spend her time recovering at home to build up her energy to return to the frontline of the pandemic.

She told Teesside Live: ‘The message I want to get to everyone is just how important it is for people to follow the advice and stay at home.

‘Anyone can catch it and get sick. I am proof of that – I’m someone who exercises regularly and looks after my health.

‘Stay at home so our amazing NHS staff can continue to save lives like my own.’

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