Stephen Hawking’s family donates his ventilator to U.K. hospital for coronavirus patients
The family of the late Stephen Hawking has donated his respirator to a hospital in Cambridge, U.K., to help treat coronavirus patients.
Hawking died just over two years ago from motor neurone disease. At the time of his death, at age 76, the celebrated British theoretical physicist, cosmologist and best-selling author was the director of research at the Centre for Theoretical Cosmology at the University of Cambridge.
On Wednesday, his daughter Lucy said that the family wanted to donate the equipment to U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) in return for the "brilliant, dedicated and compassionate medical care” he received from both Royal Papworth and Addenbrooke’s Hospitals in Cambridge.
The ventilator, which once helped the illustrious author of “A Brief History of Time,” is now headed to the Royal Papworth to help those fighting against coronavirus.
“[The hospital] was incredibly important to my father and helped him through some very difficult times,” she said, according to several local media outlets.
“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," she added.
After Hawking’s death in March 2018, the family donated all the NHS-owned equipment he was using, his daughter explained. But some items, which were personally bought by the family, still remained.
They are now “passing them to the NHS in the hope they will help in the fight against COVID-19," she said.
Dr Mike Davies, the clinical director for respiratory medicine at Royal Papworth, thanked the Hawking family for the generous donation.
“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,” he said.
According to the British newspaper The Evening Standard, the hospital has expanded its critical care department to more than double its usual size to take care of coronavirus patients.
“We are fully aware of the dedication and commitment of NHS staff to helping people in need,” Hawking’s daughter said, encouraging people to engage in the fight against the virus.
“At this time, we would ask that everyone supports NHS staff in every way possible. We would urge people to take social distancing seriously. We all need to do our bit, whatever that may be.”
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