My name is Laurence Penn.
I’ve always thrown myself into physical challenges like adventure racing: a combination of running, mountain biking and kayaking. I play as many racquet sports as possible. I sail. I studied Jujitsu to black-belt level, then taught it for several years. I’ve always tried to do a gym session and/or CrossFit at least twice a week.
Even in my mid-50s I felt very fit. I needed to be, with the amount of travelling around the globe that I was doing for my work in the world of IT-managed services, running a large, international sales team.
That was before the pandemic.
March 2020: a 54-year old man is in such steep decline the only course of action to save him is to put him in an induced coma…
I didn't give much thought to the rapid rise of a disease called ‘Coronavirus’ or ‘Covid 19’ beyond that seemed to be affecting travel and normal day-to-day life. I visited Dubai in December 2019 and again in February 2020, as global business talked of making all staff work from home. I had a final meeting with a colleague who had been travelling extensively. Unbeknownst to me at the time, he had the virus.
Two weeks later I began to go downhill as the virus made its way through my respiratory system, slowly shutting me down. Oxygen seemed harder and harder to come by.
The NHS 111 service triggered the emergency services. I was whisked away to hospital where the story begins. I was one of the first people to be put into an induced coma — into Bed number 1 in Worthing Hospital’s ICU.
This true story will share my glimpse of death, and show the resilience, love, skill and selflessness of the NHS teams that lived and worked through my nightmare.
