Sister of England cricketing great Tony Greig salutes hospital staff after five-week stay in ICU
Geoffrey Dean
Saturday May 30 2020, The Times
The sister of the late England cricket captain Tony Greig has recovered from Covid-19 after spending five weeks on a ventilator. Sally Ann Hodson, 66, who was in an induced coma for most of her hospital stay, will be released today after initially being given a 20 per cent chance of survival by doctors.
Sally Ann Hodson with her brother Tony Greig
Mrs Hodson, who has been using a Zimmer frame to take tentative steps around the ward at Pinderfields Hospital in Wakefield, Yorkshire, has been christened the “walking miracle” by nurses.
“I was longer in ICU than most, and on tracheotomy and life support for nearly six weeks, whereas most do no more than four,” she said. “I’ve just been blessed and very, very lucky. It’s beyond nursing what they provide for people like us. Every time anyone walked past — whether it was a cleaner, a tea lady, a nurse — they would kneel beside me and say ‘Come on, hold my hand.’ The little lady who showers me, Alison . . . she’s just fantastic. They are just the most incredible people at Pinderfields: I’ve never seen one nurse here lose their temper and they have a wonderful sense of humour.”
For Mrs Hodson, who has not seen her husband or two sons since being admitted on April 6, the past week has been emotional with messages and calls flooding in. “After my brother Tony’s daughter, Samantha, rang yesterday from Australia, I put the phone down and started to think I’m 66, and Tony died at 66. It really upset me.”
Referring to her brother’s death in December 2012 after a diagnosis of lung cancer, she said: “Knowing what it’s like to fight for your breath, what he must have gone through, I started to sob, and every time I stopped and said my prayers, I started again. I was spared and I’ve lived. My mother was 98, but I can’t believe I’m the same age that Tony died at, but there but for the grace of God go I.”
Sally Ann pictured after five weeks on a ventilator
Giles Toogood, of St James’s University Hospital in Leeds, sent an email at the weekend to Mrs Hodson’s husband, Phillip, a former president of Marylebone Cricket Club, in which he wrote that he feared last month that “it was not going to end well” but did not want to tell him at the time.
Professor Toogood said: “It’s amazing, quite amazing after 54 days in hospital, most of it in an ICU. I have a thing that if patients’ kidneys keep working, then they go home. As soon as you get multi-organ failure, you’re in deep trouble.”
The days after Mrs Hodson came round from her induced coma were far from straightforward. “When I sat up for first time, I had 30 minutes of the worst dizziness and sickness as I’d been lying flat for six weeks,” she said. “I didn’t realise when I came round that I wouldn’t be able to walk — initially I couldn’t move my legs, never mind my arms.
“The first time they helped me up and put my legs over the side of the bed, I could hardly breathe and I had this terrible nausea attack. That happened every day for seven days, but now it doesn’t happen at all.”
Sally Ann, second left, with her brothers Tony and Ian; their mother Joycie, and sister Molly
Happily, Mrs Hodson has been told that she will eventually recover all her physical capabilities in time. “I’m one of the few who’s recovered from my journey,” she said. “There’s no medication on discharge — just painkillers [paracetamol] as I’ve got a sore back from lying in bed and have quite a few headaches. I get a sleeping pill and a special liquid just to keep you calm. I have injections for clots and have been on quinine.
“I’ll be in isolation when I go home, although I can see family and will have a carer to help me manoeuvre. They don’t want me to have visitors — even the physio will wear a mask and gloves.”
Ahead lies a period of recuperation that is likely to stretch to 12 months. But as Mrs Hodson reflected, “a year out of my life after such a close shave is nothing — I’ve got lots to live for.” Already, she is looking forward to the birth of another grandchild in November, and a life beyond thanks to the efforts of outstanding medics.