Is the COVID-19 pandemic now a distant memory and did you wonder what all the fuss was about? This was not the case for Allen Yates. During the height of the UK pandemic he contracted a life-threatening COVID-19 infection which led to 102 days in Wythenshawe Hospital, 68 of them in intensive care and half of that time in an induced coma on a ventilator. Whilst he experienced many bouts of delirium his sister Jackie was the only outside contact with the medical teams. Allen has noted the episodes of delirium he experienced and has coupled them with the detailed diary Jackie kept of Allen’s condition as his life hung in the balance. Allen’s ‘crazy’ and Jackie’s grim reality and the long road to recovery form the basis of this engrossing tale.
Allen Yates is a retired former NHS Scientist living in south Manchester. He has co-authored many scientific papers and text book chapters but this is his first foray into non-fiction literature. Similarly, Jackie Thornhill, Allen’s sister and a retired local government officer has written formal reports in the line of her work but this is also her first foray into non-fiction. She lives in Sandbach, Cheshire with husband Martin.