A teacher has told of the moment she found out all of her limbs had been amputated after she contracted pneumonia and sepsis while she was being treated in hospital for coronavirus
Caroline Coster, 58, from Bedfordshire, was placed in a medically-induced coma at Bedford Hospital while she was being treated for Covid-19 in April last year.
Ms Coster, who had no underlying health conditions other than mild asthma, had contracted the virus with her husband just a month before she was admitted to hospital.
The teacher at Henlow Church of England Academy in Henlow had developed pneumonia because of the Covid-19 infection, which then led to her getting sepsis, an extreme reaction to infection which causes vital organs to fail.
Caroline Coster, 58, from Bedfordshire, had to have all four limbs amputated after she developed pneumonia and sepsis because of the Covid-19 infection. She is now learning to live again and has big plans for the future despite the challenges
Ms Coster, who spent four weeks fighting for her life, has said she is now learning to live again, and has big plans for the future despite the challenges she faces on a daily basis.
She said: ‘My experience of being in a coma can best be described as it felt like I was trapped in a video game. When the game was switched off, so was I.
‘When the game was switched on, my experience was disembodied white heads coming towards me and telling me ”Caroline, Caroline wake up, it’s Wednesday. We’re just going to talk, talk, talk”, and then they would do something.
‘Quite often I think I would express pain, and these disembodied heads would apologise. I now know that these were the doctors and nurses looking after me in full PPE kit.’
While Ms Coster was in the coma, her husband and daughters were told to come to say their goodbyes and told if her condition worsened, care would have to be removed.
On one particularly night Ms Coster’s life was saved by a nurse who stayed up all night clearing blood clots.
When she came around many of the doctors described Ms Coster as their miracle, but to keep her alive doctors had to redirect blood away from her limbs and towards her vital organs.
The teacher said: ‘When I came around I wasn’t sure what was reality and what wasn’t. I remember asking the nurses to take the gloves off my hands, because I thought I had black gloves on.
Doctors had to redirect blood away from Ms Coster’s limbs and towards her vital organs in order to keep her alive
‘That’s when they told me I’m not wearing gloves, those are your hands. It was at that point I knew they had to be amputated.’
While Ms Coster’s family were worried about how she would react when she found out out her hands and legs, the teacher said that she soon found a ‘sense of peace’.
She continued: ‘Very soon after I found out, I felt a sense of peace. I just thought my hands are no good to me now, let’s get rid of them and move on.
‘In a sense my hands and feet were collateral damage, because I was just glad to be alive.
‘My hands and feet don’t make me who I am. They enabled me to do lots of things, but I knew very early on there were other ways of doing those.’
While in rehab Ms Coster set herself the goal of being able to walk around her own house with the aide of a walking frame.
She can now walk around the house without the need for any support, and can walk a mile without stopping using her prosthetic legs.
When allowed, she regularly takes walks along the river with friends and said she feels confident wherever she goes.
Ms Coster said: ‘I’m in my second life now. My first life was good, and so is my second. It’s just different.’
She added: ‘I actually feel quite blessed to be able to relearn everything. It’s very rare as adults that we get to learn something new. So everyday is a bit of an adventure for me at the moment.’
Ms Coster said she had little trouble staying positive through rehab and quickly became determined to make the best of the situation.
She was also helped by the kindness and generosity of the people around her.
The teacher said: ‘I hadn’t realised how loved I was and that’s been a real wake-up call for me I think.
‘I don’t think as a society we’re very good at telling people how much we appreciate them, but in the past year I’ve had people telling me how much they appreciate me and appreciated me 20 years ago when I taught them.’
She also credits her dog, Duke, for keeping her spirits up, and hopes that in the future he can become a therapy dog so she can bring him to hospitals and schools to help others in the same way.
As well as learning how to walk again using her prosthetic legs, Ms Coster is also learning how to sew again.
She is hoping to sell more of her work to raise money for Make A Difference Schools – Mombasa, a charity which is raising funds to build a school for disabled children in Kenya.
But most of all she is looking forward to getting the coronavirus vaccine and returning to normal life.
She said: ‘I’m looking forward to seeing spring and summer. I missed all of that in 2020, so just being able to see the trees change colour again is going to be amazing.
‘I hope people take the vaccine when they’re offered it.’
While Ms Coster is looking forward to what 2021 holds, she is worried by how some people continued to remain dismissive of the dangers of Covid-19.
She added: ‘I see a lot of people without masks on. I am actually medically exempt because of how difficult it is for me to put it on, but I still wear it.
‘Not to protect me, but to protect other people. People can dismiss it as just a cold, but I’m living proof that it’s much worse than that,’ she said.
‘I just hope people get the vaccine if they are offered it, because although I love my life – I wouldn’t wish what happened to me on anyone.’