The Day A Castle Gresley Man Turned Blue (and Gave Burton’s A&E a Good Laugh)

Staff at Queen's Hospital Burton are used to seeing all sorts of things in A&E. But even by hospital standards, a bright-blue patient turning up from just up the road in Castle Gresley raised a few eyebrows.

Tommy Lynch, 42, arrived at the Burton hospital recently looking, by all accounts, like he had stepped straight out of the film Avatar.

The cause? Not an alien encounter, thankfully. Just a pair of brand-new navy bedsheets.

Tommy had been given the king-size sheets by a friend and, like many of us might after getting fresh bedding, he put them straight on the bed.

What he didn’t realise was that brand-new sheets sometimes need a wash before their first outing.

After two nights sleeping in them, Tommy woke up feeling extremely tired - and, more alarmingly, looking completely blue from head to toe.

A friend who works as a carer popped round, took one look at him, and decided this was definitely above his pay grade. Within minutes, Tommy was on his way to Burton’s Queen’s Hospital to get checked out.

Things moved quickly once he arrived. Staff understandably didn’t see a blue patient every day, so Tommy was taken straight through, placed on oxygen and surrounded by a small army of doctors trying to work out what on earth had happened.

Then came the moment of truth.

While preparing to take blood, a doctor wiped Tommy’s arm with an alcohol swab… and the wipe turned bright blue.

At that point, the penny dropped for everyone in the room.

The mysterious “medical condition” turned out to be nothing more than dye from the brand-new bedsheets that had transferred onto Tommy’s skin overnight. Crisis over - although the moment apparently caused plenty of laughter among the medical team once the relief kicked in.

Tommy, meanwhile, was understandably a little red-faced as he left the department - though still slightly blue as well.

Back home, it took several determined baths over the following week before the colour finally faded. The bedding, however, went straight into the washing machine.

The lesson for Burton residents? Always wash new sheets before using them.

Otherwise you might end up making an unforgettable entrance at Queen’s Hospital A&E - and giving the doctors a story they’ll be telling for years.

Chris Towland

(Photo credits: Essex Live)