FIVE months ago, Simon Cruden’s family gathered around his hospital bed and were told to fear the worst.

But the 32-year-old from Oxford Road, Kidlington, was given a new lease of life and has abandoned his wheelchair and got back to work.

To thank the intensive care team at the John Radcliffe and Churchill hospitals for helping to save his life, Mr Cruden is nominating them as his Hospital Heroes.

He said: “I was lucky. I almost died on the way to hospital and in intensive care but I am still here and that’s because of their work.

“So I’ll be nominating both the John Radcliffe Hospital and Churchill Hospital intensive care teams because I was treated by both of them.”

Mr Cruden went to bed on February 17 and woke up nearly a week later in intensive care after developing a severe infection called septic shock, which can cause multiple organ failure and death.

The cause of the infection was unknown, but could have been connected to a brain tumour diagnosed when he was 12 which left him registered blind.

After 10 days in intensive care he gradually started to recover.

But he only managed to start back at work in Oxford’s Marks & Spencer this week.

Mr Cruden had four brain operations between the ages of 12 to 16 and went on to become a volunteer at Oxford Children’s Hospital.

He has cheered up thousands of children as a magician and balloonist, visiting the hospital at least twice a week, where he tries to see every child in every ward.

He said: “It adds a lot to my life. If you can make a child who is crying not feel the needle, it is great.”

Mr Cruden knows what being recognised for his work is like, as a winner of the volunteer category of the hospital’s internal staff recognition awards last year.

The new Hospital Heroes awards were announced last week by the Oxford Mail and Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust.

Only staff employed by Oxford University Hospitals NHS Trust, at the John Radcliffe, Churchill, Horton hospitals and the Nuffield Othopaedic Centre, are eligible for the award.

Deadline for nominations is September 30. We will feature shortlisted nominations in the paper.

Winners will be announced at the Oxford University Hospitals' annual staff awards in November.

  • To nominate, write your name, address, date of birth, telephone number and email address, plus the person or team you would like to nominate with 250 words on why. Send it to Oxford Mail Hospital Heroes, c/o Communications Office, Level 3, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Oxford OX3 9DU. Or to nominate online go to oxfordmail.co.uk/news/hospitalheroes