A DAD given just a one per cent chance of survival after contracting Covid-19 and spending 50 days on a ventilator has made miracle recovery.

Burly body-builder Steve Banks, 44, was left in intensive care for a month and a half after being struck down by the killer virus.

He was rushed to hospital on March 25 by paramedics when his breathing deteriorated and within hours was put into an induced coma.

The next thing Steve remembers was waking up over seven weeks later in a different hospital with nurses and doctors standing around his bed clapping because he had finally opened his eyes.

Steve says he feels lucky to be alive after suffering heart, kidney and respiratory failure as well as sepsis as he body began to shut down while battling the disease.

The dad-of-two was given a tracheotomy and was put on a life-support machine in a last ditch attempt to get oxygen into his body at Broomfield Hospital in Chelmsford, Essex.

He said his condition got so bad his family wrote letters to say goodbye and were told to prepare for his funeral as they did not think he was going to make it.

But Steve, who had no underlying health conditions, started to turn a corner and is now recovering at home in East Tilbury, Essex.

As he left the hospital after being taken off a ventilator, nurses and doctors clapped his recovery.

Steve now cannot walk unaided and has lost so much muscle mass he described himself as being "half the man I was before".

When he woke up, Steve said he did not recognise himself as he lost nearly four stone in weight.

He said: "I don't remember much after going into hospital as everything just crashed.

"When I woke up I was in a different hospital, I couldn't speak, and there were lots of nurses around me clapping. It was quite a surreal moment.

"One minute I was struggling to breath, the next I had an oxygen mask.

"I went into hospital before the lockdown, only 55 people had died.

"When I came out it was over 31,000 - the country had changed beyond all recognition, it was such a shock. It's been an interesting ride.

"I was a very active person, I tried to look after myself. I was an avid gym-goer and I lifted a lot of weights.

"But this absolutely battered me, when I woke up I looked in the mirror and didn't recognise myself.

"I was around 16st and went down to about 12st 2lbs when I left hospital.

“I had suffered heart, kidney and respiratory failure and sepsis as well as pneumonia.

"I was put on an extracorporeal membrane oxygenation [life-support] which drained the blood from my body to clean it out.

“It was a last chance swoop to help save me.

"Then to find out how close I came to saying goodbye, it was very shocking, there's still things I don't know yet. Everyone I speak to says it is a miracle that I am alive."

Steve was taken to Basildon Hospital on March 25, then transferred to Chelmsford two days later.

As his condition deteriorated, Steve was given a tracheotomy on April 4 and discharged last week. He said his ordeal was tough on his family.

The construction site manager believes he caught the virus in London where he works on busy building sites.

He added: “My family were destroyed and had written letters to say goodbye as they didn’t think I was going to make it home.

“It was so difficult for them all. My wife is caring for me and her and my children have not left my side.

“I came home on May 20 and it’s difficult at the moment but I am getting movement back slowly.

“I cannot walk unaided and have lost so much muscle mass and am half the man I was before.

“I feel battered and can’t overexert myself and am now dreading going out because of the after effects of all this.”

Steve started to notice he was feeling ill on March 17 when he had a high temperature and cough.

He said his wife, Lisa and their two children were left feeling helpless as they were unable to visit Steve in hospital.

Lisa said: "I was so scared, I felt destroyed, I was numb with the anxiety and the stress of it all, I was just devastated. I had to have a conversation with our children about how their dad might die.

"I was left thinking 'how are our children ever going to get over this and how are we going to deal with this?'.

"When he first came home I couldn't look at him, it just didn't seem real. We were so happy he was over the worst of it."

Steve said he had trouble eating solid food when he first woke from his induced coma and now suffers from numb toes and a tremor in one hand.

As Steve began to make his first tentative signs of recovery, staff held an iPad up to his bed to enable Lisa to see her husband while he was on a ventilator.

Construction worker Steve said the NHS and hospital staff were just amazing and he wants to thank them for all the care they gave him.

He said: “I started to get sick around March 17, I had a high temperature of 40.2 degrees and a bad cough too.

“It got worse and I was sleeping a lot too. We called an ambulance on March 23 and they told me to self isolate.

“On March 25 my wife got very panicky and we called an ambulance and I was taken to Basildon Hospital. My oxygen levels kept dropping.

“I was then put on a ventilator on March 27 and don’t remember much as I was out cold.

"I had been transferred to Broomfield Hospital and had taken a downturn and was given a one per cent chance of survival."

Mr Banks was moved to Brentwood Community Hospital for rehabilitation and psychotherapy after he left intensive care.