Stephen Hawking’s daughter said Wednesday that a ventilator owned by the late physicist has been donated to a British hospital being hit hard by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Lisa Hawking said her family has given her father’s old ventilator to Royal Papworth Hospital in Cambridge, where he received medical care prior to dying in 2018 at the age of 76.
“As a ventilated patient, Royal Papworth was incredibly important to my father and helped him through some very difficult times,” she said in a statement put out by the hospital.
“We realized that it would be at the forefront of the COVID-19 epidemic and got in touch with some of our old friends there to ask if we could help,” Ms. Hawking added, referring to the disease caused by the novel coronavirus responsible for the global outbreak.
Royal Papworth said the hospital recently received Hawking’s old ventilator and has added it to a fleet of similar machines supplied by the U.K. National Health Services.
“It was lovely to hear from the Hawking family again and we are so grateful for them for donating this equipment,” said Dr. Mike Davies, Royal Papworth’s clinical director for respiratory medicine. “We are now extremely busy caring for patients who are critically ill with COVID-19 and the support we are receiving from patients, their families and the local community means a great deal.”
Hawking, who had motor neurone disease, used a ventilator to assist with his breathing during his later years and had bought the machine for himself, according to the hospital.
Coronavirus patients often need ventilators to breathe, and Royal Papworth said it has more than doubled the size of its critical care department due to a spike in COVID-19 cases.
More than 113,000 people in the U.K. are known to have contracted COVID-19, including over 18,000 whose deaths have been attributed to the disease.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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