Michael Rosen
Illustration by Quentin Blake

Author Michael Rosen out of intensive care after 47 days

Wife tweets first update in two weeks, saying his recovery on the ward will take time

Mattha Busby
Saturday 23 May 2020

 The poet, broadcaster and author Michael Rosen has left intensive care 47 days after he was admitted.

Rosen, 74, the author of children’s books including We’re Going on a Bear Hunt and Little Rabbit Foo Foo, charted the initial stages of his illness on Twitter. He has not tweeted since late March but his wife, Emma-Louise Williams, updated wellwishers periodically while he was “very poorly”.

After more than a fortnight without updates about his health, Williams tweeted on her own account: “Today Michael has been in hospital for 8 weeks & I’m v happy to say he left ICU yesterday after a long & difficult 47 days. His recovery is continuing on the ward & will take time. He has done so well to get through this but please don’t expect him back here yet.”

She retweeted the post on his account and praised “the amazing efforts of the lovely kind staff” at Whittington hospital in north London, where Rosen has been receiving treatment.

Williams last tweeted on Rosen’s account on 7 May, saying: “Thanks very much for all your continuing love and support on here.” She has not confirmed whether Rosen contracted coronavirus.

On 20 April she wrote: “Thanks v much for all the love. I’m not updating regularly because when someone is very poorly things can change daily & details of Michael’s ongoing care from fantastic NHS staff are private. So please be patient, no news is good news.”

Rosen, a former children’s laureate, described his illness on 22 March. “Can’t stop my thermostat from crashing: icy hands, hot head. Freezing cold sweats. Under the covers for bed-breaking shakes. Image of war hero biting on a hankie, while best mate plunges live charcoal into the wound to cauterise it,” he wrote.

The next day he wondered whether he was suffering from a heavy flu rather than coronavirus. “Have had no chest pains. No persistent cough. So all along it could have been a heavy flu and not corona. Today the fevers are ebbing. In their place a deep muscle exhaustion. In every corner.”

He was admitted to hospital later that week and spend his first night in intensive care on 29 March, before being placed on a ward. He returned to the ICU in early April.

In 2008 Rosen wrote a poem, These Are the Hands, for the 60th anniversary of the NHS. “These are the hands / That touch us first / Feel your head / Find the pulse / And make your bed,” it opened

THE GUARDIAN