Nicholas, from Wembley in London, has been working for a private ambulance service for over 20 years — transporting patients across the city. But after catching COVID-19, he became the patient.
"I was admitted to hospital around the first of April. So you can imagine I thought it was just an April Fool's Day thing", Nicholas recalled.
"I was in for about 4 weeks and there were a couple of touch-and-go moments for me. But I had an amazing team of nurses and doctors.
"After a couple of weeks I was getting better and becoming more aware of my surroundings. I was watching the doctors and nurses trying to figure out how best to treat people and couldn’t believe what they had to go through."
While recovering, Nicholas heard about an opportunity to volunteer in a research trial and quickly agreed to take part. He signed up to the Post-Hospitalisation COVID-19 study (PHOSP-COVID) at St Mary’s Hospital, London.
The trial is exploring the long-lasting impact of the virus.
"They had worked so hard to get me to where I was, I thought, 'I’ve got to give something back'", he said.
"The past year I’ve done about four visits. I’ve done lots of blood tests and breathing exercises — things like that. I’ve also completed online surveys, asking about lifestyle and things."
Volunteering in the trial has brought many advantages to Nicholas.
"The nicest thing is the conversations you can have. Sometimes I used to think to myself that I didn't want to say something about certain things because I would feel stupid.
"But I was talking to one of the researchers about flashbacks that I was having and she was suggesting that I should talk to a counsellor. When you speak to the team on this research you gain confidence."
Volunteering also helped Nicholas feel more on-top-of his general health. "I like to call it a cheeky check-up", he said. "Because at the end of the day, waiting to see a doctor can take ages usually. But by taking part in this trial they can find things out about you — like with blood pressure and things.
"A couple of times they’ve found some anomalies and they’ve reported it and sent me my complete history of everything and all my results."
So would Nicholas suggest taking part in research to others? "Honestly, I would push anyone to take part in research", he said. "You’ve got nothing to lose, but you’re gaining every time.
"I talk a lot about the research to people because it’s so important. We need to keep going with the research."
How you can get involved with research
Sign up to Be Part of Research to be contacted about a range of health and care research. Or check out our full list of studies to see if one is right for you.
And if taking part in a study doesn’t feel right at the moment there are other ways to get involved in research.
