A GRATEFUL pensioner who was set to have his life support turned off has thanked hospital staff for their ‘excellent’ support in helping him recover.

Philip Sherman, 74, of Clacton, worked in the printing industry for 54 years before taking on a career change and becoming a taxi driver for the past 15 years.

In August 2021, matters took a turn for the worse when Mr Sherman was on the job as he had a minor heart attack.

Mr Sherman was taken to Colchester Hospital and released the next day, but returned two days later after another heart attack, this time much more serious.

His wife, Jan, spoke about the incident and how worried she was during the whole ordeal.

She said: “I couldn’t see him for weeks because of Covid and I was really worried.

“When he went into Colchester he had to have triple bypass surgery, then he was taken to the critical care unit in Basildon University Hospital.

“Phil was put in a coma when he was in Basildon and they were speaking about taking him off life support which was a nightmare, I was terrified.

“Thankfully he recovered and was taken to Fryatt Hospital in Harwich where they helped him with physiotherapy and he made a full recovery.”

These events occurred between August 2021 and February 2022 and when Mr Sherman’s problems began he did not know he had a heart attack.

During his time in Basildon, it was discovered Mr Sherman had missing valves in his heart that required transplants.

He also had cardiac arrest during surgery and was declared clinically dead before being brought back to life.

Mr Sherman had small strokes, sepsis, an burst artery in his leg which required surgery and a burst ulcer that was cleaned for four hours.

His health declined so much that he was put into a medically induced coma in Basildon for stability.

As the months passed, Mrs Sherman was told by hospital staff that they were considering turning off his life support.

She added: “Those were the scariest moments but thankfully he pulled through and has been getting better ever since.”

Mr Sherman has thanked the hospital staff in Colchester, Basildon and Harwich for caring for him throughout.