A PLUCKY pensioner has beaten the odds after winning her battle against Covid-19, declaring: “You didn’t think a little virus was going to finish me off, did you?”

Great grandmother Dorothy Franklin, from Sible Hedingham, contracted Covid-19 while she was in hospital having suffered from sepsis and a chest infection.

But the defiant pensioner overcame the virus which has claimed 260,000 lives worldwide and was allowed to return home on her 93rd birthday.

Dorothy was rushed to Chelmsford’s Broomfield Hospital on March 21 after Diane Gall, 60, found her unconscious in her home. Doctors diagnosed her with suspected sepsis and a chest infection.

But the former seamstress then contracted the potentially fatal coronavirus while at the hospital.

Diane said:“They had tested her for Covid-19 and we were told on the following Wednesday it was negative which was such a relief.

“Unfortunately, she took a turn for the worse on the Friday and was re-tested. She had caught Covid-19 whilst there.

“As a family we were so distressed. At her age we didn’t think she would survive.”

But Dorothy, who lives at Hedingham Place independent living home, did survive.

Diane said: “The greatest problem was getting through to the ward for updates. The telephone would ring for hours before someone would answer.

“We knew the pressure the staff were under with so many being admitted, but the stress and worry of not knowing her condition was unbelievable.”

Dorothy remained at the hospital for five weeks before eventually being moved to Colne View care home in Halstead.

With three children, eight grandchildren and seven great grandchildren, Diane is delighted Dorothy’s family will soon be able to see her again.

Diane added: “I was there to see the ambulance arrive and was able to wave to her through a ground floor window.

“All I could do was cry – it was such a relief to see her face again.

“The doctors at Broomfield Hospital had assured me they would get her home for her 93rd birthday and they did.

“Colne View sent her home with a balloon and a beautiful birthday cake.

“Her smile said it all.

“Unfortunately as a family, we couldn’t celebrate her birthday with her, but we will as soon as the lockdown is over.

“Now Mum is home with four carers a day from Passion Tree in Chelmsford to help her recovery.

“Her words to me were ‘You didn’t think a little virus was going to finish me off, did you?’

“It was typical of mum – always positive. She will dine out on this for a long while.”

After so long in hospital, Dorothy has also missed the lockdown and is finding it hard to come to terms with the measure.

Diane said: “She has no concept of what the lockdown is.

“The whole thing is completely alien to her. She tried to call the hairdressers for a haircut but I has to tell her that she can’t do that anymore.”

Dorothy was born in 1927, growing up in Holloway, London.

She was a teenager during the Second World War and was evacuated from London during the Blitz to Hertfordshire.

She worked as a seamstress and then a secretary at Ford in London but moved to be closer to Diane.

Dorothy is now looking forward to celebrating the 75th anniversary of VE Day today with other residents of Hedingham Place.