Regular Asda Ramsgate customer Rose Doyle says pharmacy staff member Claire Twyman may have saved her life by spotting a blood clot on her leg and insisting that she went straight to A&E.
Rose, 75, spent five days in Margate’s QEQM Hospital and, as soon as she was well enough, called in at the store to thank Claire for her quick-thinking actions.
She handed her a thank-you note which read: “Thank you for making me go to A&E. You may have saved my life, so thank you once again I am really grateful.”
Claire, 46, has worked at the store for nine years. She said: “Rose is well known in the store and I used to talk to her a lot when I was on checkouts. She’s a lovely lady and everyone knows her in here.
“I was just happy that I was able to help her and give her that advice, which made a difference. It could have been a lot worse if she’d left it. I’m so glad she’s okay.
“Rose came over to the pharmacy for advice on her leg. I looked down and told her it was really swollen, and then asked to look at her foot. I thought straightaway that it was a thrombosis, a blood clot. Her toes were very white, but I didn’t want to alarm her.
“I said that she really needed to get it checked out straight away and she kept saying ‘It’ll be alright’, but I made her promise me that she would go which, thankfully, she did.
“It was a very severe blood clot and they kept her in for five days while she received treatment.”
Rose, who lives in Ramsgate, said: “I can’t thank Claire enough for recognising what it was. She said that if I didn’t go to A&E myself she would have taken me.
“The hospital gave me medication and injections for the thrombosis. If I hadn’t gone when I did I could have had a stroke or worse.”
The store’s deputy manager Bob Ellender, who nominated Claire for an Asda customer service award, said all the staff were proud of her.
He said: “If Rose hadn’t attended the hospital when she did she could have died. Well done Claire, you are a true superstar.”
