Wellwishers raise more than £8,000 to help care for mother-of-four, 55, left paralysed by Covid

Wellwishers have raised more than £8,000 to help care for a mum-of-four left paralysed from the eyes down after Covid-19 worked its way into her brain stem. 

Ayesha Hussain, 55, was ‘fine and fit’ before being struck down with coronavirus in December, according to her daughter, Amina Bux, 30. 

But within days of contracting the virus, Ayesha, from Cambridge, was admitted to Addenbrooke’s Hospital.

The mother-of-four was hooked up to a ventilator to help her breathe for 100 days. 

And in February, a biopsy revealed that the virus had spread into Ayesha’s brain stem, killing off many of her peripheral nerves and leaving her paralysed from the eyes down.

Doctors doubt she will ever move, talk or breathe on her own again after her battle with Covid-19.  

But concerned donors have now crowdfunded more than £8,000 in a bid to support the family. 

It comes as Amina said doctors have had the difficult conversation with her, asking her to consider the possibility of ending her mum’s life. 

Amina said: ‘That was absolutely horrific to hear. It was really horrible.

‘I am my mum’s voice now, and I know that she is not ready to go yet. If my mum was ready to go, she would let go.

‘At the moment she is conscious and we know she can hear us and understand us, because if we tell her to move her eyes up or down or to the left or right, she does.

‘I said to the doctors that they are absolutely not to turn off that ventilator.

‘They don’t know yet whether she could get stronger and make some sort of recovery.

‘Until they give me a definitive answer on that, I will keep hoping and praying that something will fall into place.’

But Amina admitted: ‘I have joined a lot of Covid support groups, but I have not come across anyone else who has suffered as badly as my mum.’

Now, Amina is hoping to bring Ayesha home to care for her mum herself – and has set up a GoFundMe page to help her raise funds for her mum’s hospital bills and ongoing recovery.

She said: ‘It doesn’t matter to me if she’s going to be disabled, or never going to walk again. I just want to give her the best life for the time she has left.

‘I want her to be able to come home and spend time with her family, with her granchildren.

‘My sister had a baby two days before mum went into hospital, so she has a grandchild she hasn’t even met yet. We just want to do the best for our mum..’

Ayesha and Amina both fell ill with the virus on Christmas Day, and Amina said it felt like ‘being hit by a truck’.

She said: ‘We both had it really badly. But while I started to get better, my mum didn’t.

‘I called the paramedics out on December 29 to check on her, and they wanted to take her into hospital as they were concerned.

‘Then, two days later, they put her on a ventilator. It was so scary. I prayed and prayed that she would come back, but she just hasn’t since.’

Amina added that at the end of January, her mum’s heart stopped for two minutes.

She said: ‘I can’t even describe how I felt when I got that call. It felt like my own heart stopped.

‘One minute everything was fine and she was breathing okay with the ventilator, and the next everything just shut down.

‘After that, they did the biopsy and found that the Covid had made its way into her brain stem.’

But Amina added: ‘Now, I feel like her heart has stopped once before but she’s fought through it, so I know she’s not ready to go yet. She’s a fighter.

‘We will keep fighting for her.’

It came after the family suffered a double blow after Ayesha’s home was broken into and raided by four thieves.  

But while she was in hospital criminals broke into her home on January 23rd and stole her car and jewellery.

To donate to Ayesha’s GoFundMe page, click here.