Ellen had been very aware of symptoms but said one of the symptoms people were told to look out for was a rash, but her husband did not have one.
“They told me in the hospital that a rash doesn’t always appear,” Ellen said.
“They checked Mark every day for a rash, but it never appeared.
“So that’s one symptom that not everybody gets is the rash, and that’s one of symptoms that people seem so very focused on.”
Mark had other symptoms such as a headache and a sore neck, sensitivity to bright lights and confusion.
It took time to get Mark’s infection levels under control and for him to start to recover even when he was brought out of the coma.
“We didn’t know if Mark was going to come out of it at all,” Ellen said.
“While he was in the coma we just were taking it day by day”
She was told doctors would not know if there was any brain damage until Mark was awake and out of the coma, but that took time as he did not respond as well as doctors hoped when he came round.
“I remember leaving hospital that day just so deflated because I just didn’t know how Mark was going to be because at that stage he was just lying awake, he wasn’t moving, he wasn’t moving his arms, his hands,” Ellen said.
“He wasn’t nodding. He wasn’t talking. He was doing nothing, just looking. And the staff were worried about that as well.”
“The first few days after coming out of the coma, he was very like somebody with severe Alzheimer’s,” she said.
“It was very scary. It was just a matter of taking every day as it came just.
“I’ve never prayed so hard in all my life.”