Young nurse saves elderly man who hadn't eaten for 10 days while self-isolating for coronavirus
A young nurse in the UK "saved" an elderly man who allegedly hadn't eaten for over 10 days while self-isolating because of the novel coronavirus.
The medical worker, identified as Lucy, shared the emotional story on a public Facebook group recalling how she saw an old man parked up in his car while driving home from a 12-hour shift, Mirror reports.
As soon as she stopped and got out of her vehicle, the man allegedly opened his car door and grabbed her arm, revealing he had contracted COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus.
"The man asked for my help, with beads of sweat rolling down his face, the man was drifting in and out of continuousness as he spoke to me (sic)," she said.
When Lucy offered to summon an ambulance, the man allegedly told her he would wait until the morning.
However, Lucy proceeded to her own car and grabbed a mask before calling an ambulance for the individual, who has not been identified. The man reportedly told her he hadn't eaten "for 7-10 days as he has been in isolation and has no family or friends. (sic)"
He went on to say he had been trying to drive out and purchase essential items and food as "he knew he would die" of hunger otherwise. "The man said he didn’t trust other people as there’s a lot of horrible people in the world," she said.
The ambulance turned up at the scene moments later and rushed the man to the ER, Lucy shared on the EH UP High Peak Facebook group.
The young nurse then followed the ambulance in her own car and sat next to him at the hospital for over five hours.
"The man was so grateful that I stayed with him and kept squeezing my hand and pulling it close to him," she recalled.
He then asked her why she was "being so kind," and Lucy told him she would hate to be ill herself and have no one by her side.
Despite having plans for a takeaway that night, Lucy spent five hours with the elderly gent after her shift was over.
"I have just left his side now as he is too poorly to have any visitors, but he has my contact details if he wants to tell me when he is better," she said after leaving the hospital.
"I'm not sure if he will get better," she later wrote in the heartbreaking post, "but I hope so as he's promised me a coffee."
After the emotional episode, Lucy's family will have to be in self-isolation and away from her until she can confirm whether she has been infected with the deadly virus.
"But I know I have saved a man's life tonight," she added. "If I waited to ring an ambulance in the morning, he wouldn't be alive tomorrow."
The UK is one of the hardest-hit countries in terms of cases per capita, with 11,658 cases and 578 deaths recorded as of March 27 morning.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has also tested positive for the novel coronavirus.