Covid patient praises NI drugs trial
Belfast man says steroid treatment helped him recover from Coronavirus
A Belfast man recovering from Covid-19 has urged other patients to consider taking part in medical research.
55-year-old Brendan Fay spent a month in hospital and 16 days on a ventilator struggling to breathe.
The engineer told DT COOL FM about how it affected him:
"My experience of Covid-19 was unusual, I started felling ill the last weekend of March but didn't have any of the usual symptoms.
"I stopped working on the 1st of April and was taken to the Mater Hospital on the 5th of April but most of April is a blur.
"I know I was in ICU in the Belfast City Hospital for over two weeks and really only recall the time in the recovery ward after ICU."
Brendan is part of 21 patients in Northern Ireland taking part in a drugs trial.
Remap Cap is an international study led by Utrecht University in the Netherlands.
It is being run by three health trusts here by the Northern Ireland Clinical Research Network.
The engineer began taking steroid treatment hydrocortisone four times a day, seven days a week and believes it has helped his recovery:
"Covid left me completely debilitated.
"When I came around I was unable to stand on my own feet for a few days.
"The most difficult part was breathing, it was such an effort and I was out of breath very easily.
"Thankfully none of the symptoms have returned and I've made a great recovery overall.
"I've a few minor things still ongoing but when I see and hear some of the struggles of other people who have had Covid, I'm so glad I've made the progress that I have."
The first findings of the study were published recently and showed the steroid was found to be helping severely ill COVID-19 patients.
Dr Jon Silversides is leading the REMAP CAP trial in NI and is also co clinical lead for the Northern Ireland Clinical Research network:
"This is a hugely exciting finding and shows by collaborating across the world we can make huge progress in a very short space of time.
"It encourages us to keep researching Covid-19 and keep doing trials to find out which treatments help people and which don't."
And he encouraged others to get involved:
"Research is a crucial part of what we do in the health service, it's what allows us to get better at what we do.
"It's very much a partnership between scientists, healthcare professionals and most importantly patients.
"So if you have the opportunity to take part in a research study, please consider signing up.
"It may help you but it will definitely help other people in a similar situation in the future."