Luke Pickering has been named as a patient ambassador for the National Rehabilitation Centre (NRC), the 70-bed rehabilitation unit with a remit to transform rehabilitation in the UK that is due to open this year.
In his voluntary role at the NRC, Luke will support patients undergoing the type of rehabilitation that he himself received. The £105 million NRC, which is part of the New Hospital Programme in England, will be run and staffed by Nottingham University Hospitals NHS Trust (NUH).
After waking up one morning in 2023 with pins and needles in his hands and toes, Luke saw his GP and was later admitted to Kingsmill Hospital in Nottinghamshire. There he was diagnosed with Guillain-Barre Syndrome, a rare condition commonly triggered by a viral infection in which the immune system attacks the nervous system. After some initial treatment, he was transferred to the intensive care unit at Nottingham’s City Hospital.
At one point, Luke, a mechanic in his early thirties, was paralysed below the face and had to sleep with his eyes open for three weeks. He was transferred from City Hospital to NUH’s Linden Lodge just before Christmas 2023, where members of the rehab team taught him to walk again, and has now returned to work.
Prayers answered
‘At the first session Volker [Teweleit, a clinical specialist physiotherapist] picked me up and got me to stand on his feet and was moving me around. It kept my morale up – the whole team got me through it’ [Luke Pickering]
Luke explained what being admitted to Linden Lodge meant to him: ‘That’s what I had been praying for. I knew I needed physiotherapy, and I needed to be moving, so going to Linden Lodge was my Christmas present. They even let me go home for a couple of hours in my wheelchair on Christmas Day.’
Road back to independence
His rehab team included speech and language therapists who helped Luke to regain the use of his facial muscles and physiotherapists who taught him to walk again.
Luke noted: ‘We said it was going to be a race between me and my baby daughter as to who would walk first! At the first session Volker [Teweleit, a clinical specialist physiotherapist] picked me up and got me to stand on his feet and was moving me around. It kept my morale up – the whole team got me through it.
‘They knew I was determined to get back to my family and my work. I kept doing my own exercises in my room and kept pushing myself. I went from a wheelchair to crutches, and then to one crutch, and then none.’
A year and a quarter on after being discharged from Linden Lodge – 94 days after he first went into A&E – Luke’s life has almost returned to normal. ‘My feet aren’t fully there yet but I’m grateful to be back to myself again. It doesn’t stop me from doing anything. Whatever I could do before, I can do now, I just appreciate it more.
‘I’m so grateful for all the NHS teams who have helped me. It’s hard to explain how much they have done for me – they gave me my independence back and made me “me” again. I’ll never forget that.’
Charity run
In December, the sister of Luke’s partner (Rhiannon Simpson) raised £1,795 for Nottingham Hospitals Charity after completing a half marathon.
She said: ‘When he returned home, it felt like a miracle – and we will forever be grateful to everyone at Linden Lodge for the strength, compassion, and care they gave us during such a difficult time.’
Luke is pictured with his partner Alix, son Lucas (now three) and daughter Ivy (now almost two).
For more information about the NRC, visit: https://nationalrehabilitationcentre.nhs.uk/
For more information about the New Hospital Programme, visit: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/new-hospital-programme-review-outcome/new-hospital-programme-plan-for-implementation
