A GP has revealed how she was so scared that she would die after contracting coronavirus she emailed her solicitor from her sickbed to sort out her will and even sent

A GP has revealed how she was so scared that she would die after contracting coronavirus she emailed her solicitor from her sickbed to sort out her will and even sent her husband a message saying 'I love you', with her favourite family photos attached.  

Dr Johanna Ward, a mother-of-three in her forties from Kent, was in 'complete isolation' for 16 days after falling ill with the virus in March - after contracting it 'early' from a patient before masks were issued to healthcare professionals. 

In an emotional account of her battle with the disease, she told This Morning hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford that she had to listen to her children's voices through the door at night as she completely cut off from the rest of her family to fight the illness and protect them.

Her isolation, she says, affected her three children deeply with her son Zack, six, telling her: 'I promise to stay inside forever if you don't die.' 

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Dr Johanna Ward spent 16 days battling coronavirus at home and had such bad chest pains that she sent her husband a message saying 'I love you' along with her favourite photos of her three children Sienna, five, Zack, six and Jessica, 11

The skin doctor says a previous TB infection, caught from a patient, had made her more vulnerable to the respiratory virus - and she feared it may claim her life  

Heartbreaking: Son Zack, six, stood by his mother's door while she was in isolation and told her 'I promise I'll stay inside forever if you don't die'

When Dr Ward's condition deteriorated on day six of her illness - when she suffered intense shortness of breath and chest pains - she admitted herself to hospital but says others without a medical background may not easily spot the signs.

'What took me to hospital was severe shortness of breath, difficulty breathing. I had such severe chest pain, I knew I had to be in hospital in a safe place.'

Dr Ward told the presenting duo that she thinks she caught the disease because she had TB - also caught from a patient - when she was a young medic in her twenties, which she thinks left her more vulnerable to the respiratory disease when the outbreak began. 

At the height of her illness, she missed mother's day and her daughter Sienna's fifth birthday and felt so ill, that she began making plans in case she didn't make it out of her quarantined room.   

Speaking to Lorraine on Good Morning Britain this morning, the GP said she was sent from hospital because there were patients more in need than she was - but says 'managing pneumomnia at home' wasn't easy

She explains: 'There was a time, I actually emailed my solicitor about my will. I text my husband and said 'I love you and if anything happens, look after the kids'. 

 She says: 'I sent him my favourite pictures of myself and the kids, just in case.' 

'When you're in the room, you have a total loss of that human touch, you're very alone. 

'I didn't know if I would survive. I've come out with some new resolutions in life, to turn this into a possible.' 

After being admitted to hospital, Dr Ward was later discharged because there were patients considered in a worse condition than she was and a shortage of beds meant it was safer for Dr Ward to be at home, something she said was scary, essentially being told to 'manage pneumonia at home.'

She added: 'I'm a medic, I knew when to call for help. Other people don't have access to that and don't know the signs.' 

She says she adopted a 'breathe, meditate, pray' mantra to get through her illness - saying breathing techniques helped to 'calm myself but also to get air into the lungs'. 

Her three children were all affected by her isolation, with Dr Ward saying her five-year-old regressed into more baby-like behaviour while she couldn't spend time with her mum

Her isolation, she says, affected her three children deeply, and she was left feeling upset when she heard her son Zack, six, telling her through the door: 'I promise to stay inside forever if you don't die.'

She says Sienna, five, regressed and became more baby-like and Jessica, 11, was 'terribly quiet and a bit detached'.

Dr Ward says: 'It was very bittersweet coming out, I couldn't kiss them.'

Calling the experience life-changing and 'haunting' she says she has been fanatical about washing laundry on high temperatures and hygiene in the house since her recovery.