Former The Only Way Is Essex star Lucy Mecklenburgh has thanked people for their supportive messages after she revealed she had found her 18-month-old son Roman “blue” in his cot.
In a message on her Instagram stories the morning after revealing her and partner Ryan Thomas’s harrowing experience, she wrote: “Thank you for all your lovely messages, this is day three at home and we are just enjoying lots of special family time with our perfect boy.”
Mecklenburgh, 30, revealed on Instagram on Thursday that she had experienced “every parent’s worst nightmare”.
She said Roman was home from intensive care and “back to his cheeky self”, but added that she and Thomas “may never fully recover”.
Mecklenburgh wrote: “As some of you may have noticed we haven’t been on social media lately.
“Just over a week ago I found Roman blue in his cot – probably every parent’s worst nightmare. Without going into too much detail it ended up with Roman being transferred to St Mary’s London intensive care being put on a ventilator.
“Thankfully we are now all home and Roman is back to his cheeky self.”
The TV star said she is “eternally grateful” to the ambulance service for its swift response and shared her thanks to Basildon hospital, St Mary’s London paediatric intensive care unit and the Cosmic charity, which cares for babies and young children in intensive care.
She said she wanted to help with the new children’s garden area at the hospital in Basildon as “it’s unusable at the moment and I know it would bring so much joy to children on the wards”.
Mecklenburgh said she is supporting the Cosmic charity and told fans there is a fundraising link in her Instagram biography for donations.
She added: “Although mentally we as a family may never fully recover, we feel extremely blessed to have our special boy home in our arms and it has truly opened our eyes to all the hardworking superheroes working in our hospitals who dedicate their lives to helping others and how extremely lucky we are to have these incredible medical services free for us all in the UK.
“Thank you NHS and all the charities that support the NHS.”
Thomas, a 37-year-old actor best known for his work on Coronation Street, shared a picture of himself embracing Roman at the hospital.
He wrote on Instagram: “No words can explain how grateful we are to have our little boy home safe after spending nearly a week in intensive care.
“As parents it’s been one of the scariest times of our lives but with thanks to our amazing doctors & nurses we have king Roman back playing, smiling & more importantly eating, i would like to thank the @nhs and also @cosmic_charity who have been unbelievable.”
