A DAD from Wrexham has told how he was nearly killed by flu – surviving only because medics at the Maelor Hospital rushed him for lifesaving support from an artificial lung.

Scott Blackwell, 44, had to be put in an induced coma and transferred to Leicester for specialist care after flu virus led to his lungs failing completely.

He had been at work just the previous day, with tightness in his chest and a cough – but was found by a colleague confused and "slumped against a radiator" on New Year's Eve in 2019.

When he was assessed at the Maelor’s Emergency Department, it became clear that Scott’s only hope was an ECMO – or extracorporeal membrane oxygenation – machine, which works like an external lung to help keep oxygen pumping around the bloodstream of the most severely ill patients.

Scott woke up in the East Midlands following treatment more than two weeks later, before continuing his recovery in the Critical Care Unit back in Wrexham and on the Maelor’s Mason ward.

Scott BlackwellScott Blackwell (Image: BCUHB) During his illness, Scott lost four stones in weight and had to undergo intensive physiotherapy before he could walk again.

Scott, who has asthma, hadn’t had his usual NHS flu vaccine that year. At the time he was 39, and his son Lennon was just two-and-a-half.

Flu can affect anyone, but doctors are now encouraging everyone eligible for the vaccine to make sure they take up the protection it offers this winter.

“I felt dreadful – I can just remember that it felt like I couldn’t breathe,” Scott, said. “It felt like I was breathing through one nostril and then someone was pushing the other one closed as well.

“Now, I’m grand – but twice while I was in hospital they phoned my family to come in, in case that was it. I think they broke down afterwards at how serious it was.

“It just shows how quickly something like flu can switch on like that, and it can be almost too late to control it when it does. Suddenly there’s a whole crash team around you, and your family is being pulled in.”

Scott says he is lucky that he has experienced no lasting effects from his illness. It took 10 months of recovery before he could return to work as a mechanical engineer, but is now fully fit to play with football-mad Lennon and follow his love of fishing.

Statistics from Public Health Wales show people with asthma and other respiratory conditions are seven times more likely to die from a serious influenza infection, and are at higher risk from COVID-19 too. 

People with a wide range of underlying health conditions – also including diabetes, and heart, liver and kidney disease – or who have a weaker immune system are eligible for vaccines to protect them against flu and COVID-19.

Everyone aged 65 and over is also eligible, while children aged two to 16 are offered a painless nasal spray flu vaccine.

The vaccines can prevent more vulnerable people getting flu and COVID-19, ease the severity of symptoms if they do, and help to reduce the impact of the viruses circulating in the community.

They are offered by GP surgeries, community pharmacies, health board vaccination centres and our school nursing and immunisation teams.

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Dr Stephen Kelly, a consultant in respiratory medicine at Wrexham Maelor Hospital, urged everyone eligible for flu and COVID-19 vaccines to take them up.

“Scott’s story shows that you can never predict how severely a serious infection like flu will affect you or your loved ones,” he said.

“The best way to reduce your risk from winter viruses like flu and COVID-19 is to take up the offer of vaccination if you are eligible. The vaccines being offered now give the best possible protection this winter – and it is important you get vaccinated to boost your protection every year when you are invited.

“You can also help to protect communities across North Wales by avoiding passing illnesses on if you do become unwell. If you have symptoms of a winter virus or bug, please stay away from others until you feel better – especially people who might be more vulnerable. Making sure you cover your mouth when you cough or sneeze, wash your hands regularly and dispose of used tissues will also help to stop the bugs being spread.

“Simple steps like these can help to stop you, your loved ones and other people in your community becoming unwell, and potentially seriously ill.”

Guidance about flu symptoms and treatment is available from NHS 111 Wales.

Full details of eligibility for flu and COVID-19 vaccines and how you or your loved ones can receive them in North Wales are available at Betsi Cadwaladr's website.