Former Grantham mayor faces losing voice after battle with Covid-19
A former Mayor of Grantham has been told that he could lose his voice permanently, months after being diagnosed with the coronavirus.
Six months after first contracting the deadly virus, Alan Asher, 63, is learning to live with some of the long-term “life-changing” effects of the disease.
As previously reported, his health remains affected despite the virus having left his body. Now he has a tracheotomy fitted to help him breathe.
After feeling unwell at home in March, Alan was rushed to Grantham Hospital and then transferred to Lincoln County Hospital, where tests revealed he had Covid-19.
Alan, who also suffers from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, spent the next 10 weeks in hospital fighting for his life, including nine weeks in intensive care and seven weeks in an induced coma, before learning how to walk again and master his fine motor skills.
After returning home to wife Sharon in June, Alan soon started experiencing difficulty with his breathing.
He said: “I found it very difficult to speak. It didn’t cause too much of a concern at the start as my oxygen levels were OK. I was meant to have a hospital appointment to find out what was going on but the appointment never materialised.
“It was only after my occupational therapist, who phoned me each week, pushed and I got an appointment with a consultant within a few days, who requested I had a CT scan.”
When Alan still hadn’t had the scan by September, he attended the urgent treatment centre at Grantham Hospital and was rushed to Lincoln County Hospital in an ambulance and fitted with a trachea the very next day to help him breathe more easily.
He spent the next three and a half weeks in hospital and had a total of six different tracheas fitted after each one kept becoming dislodged, before returning home last Monday.
Alan is now faced with the option of having a trachea fitted for life and keeping his voice or having the trachea removed but risk losing his voice.
He said: “My life has completely changed. I have to use a nebuliser four times a day to clear my lungs, I have a suction machine and endless equipment to get me through the day.”
Sharon, who has been caring for Alan, added: “He doesn’t like to sleep as he’s terrified of not waking up. When he does finally sleep, he has to sleep with the door open and light on as he has nightmares.”
After everything he has been through, Alan says he hates to see people flouting the rules and dismissing the virus.
He added: “This is real.
“I just want people to realise how life-changing this virus can be.”
