Nicola Darlington was admitted to Derriford Hospital back in October after contracting COVID-19. Despite having both doses of the COVID vaccine, Nicola ended up spending over eight weeks in hospital, six of those in ICU. She believes without her vaccines; the outcome could have been much worse.

“I can’t really remember a lot at the beginning because I was still quite poorly however, when I came round it was quite scary. I didn’t realise how poorly I’d been until people were telling me as I’d been asleep for 20 days. People were filling me in on bits and pieces and they were just amazed that I pulled through it.”

Now able to comprehend the seriousness of her condition in ICU, Nicola has nothing but praise for the staff: “They were brilliant in ICU, totally amazing. They were always there to help me, and the good thing was that they were trying to make me feel normal.