Heavily pregnant mum, 39, who beat coronavirus won't leave house until baby is born and fears she'll catch it again
A PREGNANT mum who was hospitalised with Covid-19 and had a '50/50' of survival said she won't leave the house again until her baby is born as she fears she'll catch the deadly virus again.
Beautician Karen Mannering, 39, posted a video from her beside last month pleading with people to stop going out as she battled the virus in hospital.
⚠️ Read our coronavirus live blog for the latest news & updates
In a video posted to Facebook, she said she had pneumonia in both lungs and had been ill for two weeks.
"I'm fighting for me and my baby," Karen said with an oxygen tube in her nose.
After spending a week in hospital in Margate, Karen was allowed to return home to Herne Bay at the end of March.
When she returned home, she was unable to hug husband Steve of their three kids until she had spent seven days self-isolating.
She is now terrified about leaving the house and catching the deadly virus again.
Karen, who is seven months pregnant, said: "The doctors have said to me there's no guarantee that I can't catch it again so have advised me to just stay in until I have the baby around July 3.
"I don't know where I stand with immunity. I don't feel any safer than anybody else and if anything, I feel probably less safe because if I did catch it there's no way I'd be able to fight it a second time.
"It took everything just to get through it the first time and I know how much it takes out of you. I'm still weak from that and I'm scared. I don't think my body could take it.
"I was 50/50 for such a long time. My body had given up and mentally I was giving up until my family were really on my case and saying I had to stay positive to pull myself through.
"You sit there thinking it all through 'how my family would cope with my death and raising a premature newborn baby?'
"Now I get scared to go to sleep at night because I used to think 'am I going to wake up tomorrow?' I guess it's left mental scarring where I've been in that dark place fighting for so long."
Discussing her life in lockdown, Karen said: "It's boring but I'm staying in until I have my little man.
"They tested him two weeks after I came out of hospital and he's fine – ever so slightly on the small side but that's nothing to worry about.
"My husband is saying he's a fighter after getting through all of that but it's the not knowing. There's no conclusive evidence to show he's going to come out of this and be okay."
Join our George Cross campaign for NHS staff
We are urging Sun readers to sign a petition calling for our NHS staff to be awarded the George Cross.
We are backing a proposal by Lord Ashcroft to honour our health heroes with the gallantry gong given for acts of bravery that did not take place in battle.
A No10 spokesman said: “The NHS is doing a fantastic job and the nation will want to find a way to say thank you when we have defeated this virus.”
SAS hero Andy McNab added: “The award of a George Cross would show an emotional appreciation.”
We are asking our readers to please sign the petition below.
Source: Read Full Article