Rita Reale, 53, is a nursing lecturer. She lives in Oxford with her wife Nicole and daughter Dearbhla, 19When I first started coughing last March, I moved into the spare room to isolate from my wife Nicole and our daughter Dearbhla.
Nicole left nourishing soups and sparkling water outside my door on a tray to keep me hydrated.The next day, however, the pain started.
It was like bolts of lightning going through my lungs. I spoke to a GP on the phone, but didn’t want to go to hospital and take away resources from people worse off than me.
After all, I had no underlying medical conditions and was previously fit.As the hours passed, however, I knew from my nursing training that something was seriously wrong.