A nurse battling on the frontlines against coronavirus is now fighting for her life after collapsing at work, according to reports.
The family of breast care specialist Pauline McIlroy say she now needs a ventilator to breathe, having possibly caught coronavirus at Beatson cancer unit in Glasgow, UK.
As per the Daily Mirror, Pauline, 56, was rushed to hospital last Wednesday. Her twin sister Jackie said she had felt exhausted before her coronavirus diagnosis.
Jackie told the Daily Record that Pauline was “really, really tired but some days she works until seven or eight at night so she does get tired”.
She continued: “She is very much more than a nurse in a ward, she is an oncology specialist, runs her own clinic and works closely with radiographers and doctors planning treatments.”
Pauline was given antibiotics after collapsing and put into isolation on a ventilator while waiting for her results to come back. Jackie confirmed her sister had been on the ventilator since last Thursday and is “stable, not any better or any worse than she was”.
“I want people to know how good a nurse she is and it’s all she ever wanted to do,” Jackie explained.
“She has treated thousands and thousands of people over the years.”
The hardest part for Pauline’s family is that they’ve been unable to visit her since she went into isolation with the ventilator.
Jackie said: “I can fully understand why we can’t go in because we could be infected too.”
The coronavirus death toll has now surpassed 20,000 worldwide, with an estimated 468,000 people having contracted the virus. We all need to do what we can to limit its spread and ensure the weight on our respective healthcare sectors doesn’t become too much.
We’re praying Pauline can come through this and get back to doing what she does best: caring for others.
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