Blackpool Vic staff were my superheroes says dad who fought back from paralysing illness

Nick Lovell, 36, went to bed one night with a strange feeling in his feet and, within hours of waking up the following day at his Knowsley Avenue home, near Stanley Park, he was on his hands and knees, unable to move.

Nick, who was then 32, fell in to a coma and when he came round, he faced the onset of two rare conditions: neurological disease Bickerstaff Brainstem Encephalitis, which causes weakness in the limbs, and autoimmune disorder Guillain Barre Syndrome, which affects the nervous system.

He spent two years in hospital in Blackpool and Preston after initially being paralysed from head to toe.

Now, following another two years of recovery, he wants to express his appreciation to everyone who helped him. His remarkable story was told in The Gazette earlier this week, and Nick said that, without Vic staff, he would not have been here to tell his tale.

He said: “The staff there should be proud of what they achieved.

“In such a high pressured environment they do it all with a smile on their face. It’s not just the patient they care for it is the family. I was critically ill but the hospital supported my wife, mum and dad and sister. I call them my super-heroes.”

Nick, a dad-of-two, added: “Every part of my body had been paralysed, even the muscles in my tongue, eyes and diaphragm.

“I could not even open my eyes.

“I was given intravenous immunoglobulin twice and started to make improvements.

“I had physiotherapy two or three times times a day to get my chest clear. The staff just did so much.

“I want to thank them for everything they have done for me.”