After six months in hospital, I was so drained even my neighbour didn't recognise me

A busy Thornton councillor went from being involved in community activities and campaigns and attending council meetings to lying listlessly in a hospital bed for half a year.

Coun Andrea Kay has been a well-known figure in Thornton and Cleveleys due to her council work for more than 15 years. The 63-year-old Conservative councillor represents the Thornton ward of Pheasants Wood on Wyre Council and is also a Lancashire county councillor for Cleveleys East. She served as mayor of Wyre in 2021/22.

Yet when she came out of hospital she was so drained by her illness – a dangerous blood infection – that one of the neighbours didn’t even recognise her. She feared at one stage she might die in hospital after losing five stone in weight. The councillor, 63, is now on vital medication to prevent her having a stroke and to control a brain injury.

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She needs support with her walking and suffers from short-term memory loss. But she is glad to have come out of hospital and is now making a slow recovery.

Andrea said: “It started last summer, on July 23. I felt really ill, I was literally sick all over the place and had the most terrible stomach pain.

“At first I thought it was something I’d eaten, but over the next few days, it didn’t go away. I tried to get an appointment with my GP but I couldn’t get one quickly enough, I wasn’t getting anywhere.”

After a paramedic took her to Fleetwood, she ended up being rushed to Blackpool Victoria Hospital. Little did she realise that she would be there for six months, finally being discharged in January this year.

She said: “It turned out to be some kind of blood infection which played havoc with my organs – it damaged my liver and my spleen but they couldn’t operate on me because of the risks.

“I was on anti-biotics and medication as they tried to deal with the infection.”

Andrea says her brother came to visit her every day and moved across to the Fylde coast during the worst of her illness.

She would feel hot and cold and sleep for hours, days would merge into nights, for months on end.

Once she was discharged from hospital, she says the community intravenous (IV) therapy clinic in South Shore has proved vital.

She says: “They had some fantastic staff at the hospital but I was glad to leave and get home.

“I am hoping to recover but it’s a long process. The difficult thing has been having to give up my council jobs at Wyre and Lancashire.

“I was the lead member for children and young people but I’ve had to give that and my other roles up.

“I went from being someone who likes to help people to someone who needed help.”

She added: “You realise how lucky you are to be fit and well.

“It’s made me realise even more that some people are ill like I was, but they don’t have anybody.

“It brings it home to you – if you haven’t seen your neighbour for a while, it’s worth checking if they are OK.

“My neighbours have been great. I’ve been lucky.”

Andrea has attended some full council meetings, helped by her fellow councillors in Cleveleys, and looks forward to catching up on council business.