Thursday 23 June 2022 01:32 PM Stoke grandfather, 58, paralysed after first Covd-19 jab trends now

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A father-of-two who claims to have suffered a rare side effect of a coronavirus vaccine has finally been discharged from hospital - after 420 days. 

Former security worker Anthony Shingler was left 'paralysed' after taking his first AstraZeneca jab.

He was rushed to the Royal Stoke University Hospital with severe aches, as well as pins and needles in March last year just days after being vaccinated. After spending months on a ventilator at the Royal Stoke, Anthony was transferred to Haywood Hospital in November to continue his long and painful recovery.

Now the 58-year-old has returned home to Northwood to be with his wife Nicola, and their two daughters.

But grandfather Mr Shingler - who had no previous health conditions prior to taking the vaccine - says 'he will never be the same' after being left needing a wheelchair and walking frame to get around the house.

Describing his time in hospital, he told StokeonTrentLive: 'I was asked to make a phone call to my loved-ones as I was taken down to critical care as they didn't know whether I would make it or not. I spoke to my wife and two daughters and said "goodbye". That was frightening.

'I was then on a ventilator for months recovering. Even though I was the one lying in a hospital bed paralysed, my family went through more than I did.'

Mr Shingler was officially diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), a serious condition that affects the nerves. The condition sees the body's immune system damages nerve cells, causing muscle weakness and sometimes paralysis, following infection, and in rare cases, vaccination.

Mr Shingler was taken off the ventilator in October and managed to breathe on his own but says he still couldn't move his body.