Coma survivor creates play to share moving stories of former ICU patients

A former ICU patient has written a play to celebrate the inspiring and moving stories of intensive care patients whose lives have been saved by the staff at Guy’s and St Thomas’. 

Seb Harcombe, a 54-year old theatre director based in Islington, suffered a cardiac arrest in 2019 while teaching an acting class. He was taken for emergency treatment at St Thomas’ Hospital’s intensive care unit (ICU) and he was in a coma for a week.

After waking up from his coma and being discharged from the hospital, Seb was invited to attend a peer support group run by clinicians at Guy’s and St Thomas’. These group sessions bring together ICU survivors and their family members to share common experiences and support each other through the emotional challenges of their recovery. 

While attending this group, Seb was inspired by the powerful testimonies he heard from other members about their experience in intensive care. As a professional theatre director, he decided he wanted to write a play that would capture these stories. Seb began developing the play in 2019 and, following a delay due to the COVID-19 pandemic, finished this towards the end of last year (2024).

Reflecting on his time in the peer support group, Seb said: “It was amazing to hear everyone’s individual stories. After waking up from a coma, it can be really hard to fully come to terms with what has happened to you. Attending this group provided me with the opportunity to connect with other people, share my recovery story, and begin to process my time in intensive care. 

During the group sessions, I was struck by all the strange and interesting memories of what people had seen and heard while in a coma. I wanted to create something that captured these unique experiences, and celebrated people’s inspirational stories of resilience and recovery.

“I also wanted to do something that could express how grateful I am to all the amazing staff at Guy’s and St Thomas’ who looked after me. If it hadn’t been for their care, I could very easily not be here, and I am so thankful for everything they have done“.

The peer groups were first established in 2016 by consultants, Dr Joel Meyer and Dr Andrew Slack to improve support for people recovering from their time in intensive care. This type of support can be particularly helpful for people experiencing ‘post-intensive care syndrome’, a range of physical, psychological and cognitive symptoms that can appear in people who have survived a life-threatening illness.

These symptoms can affect an individual’s quality of life for many months, or sometimes years, after surviving critical illness. Typical symptoms may include anxiety, physical pain, memory loss and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Dr Joel Meyer said: “Although patients have different illnesses that bring them into ICU, we have always said that these differences are just skin deep. Many people who come out of ICU have the shared experience of feeling like their world has been turned upside down.

These groups provide a safe and supportive environment for people like Seb, where they can really be themselves and feel understood by people have gone through the same experience as them.

Although Guy’s and St Thomas’ peer group sessions were initially held in-person, they were moved online during the COVID-19 pandemic. These virtual groups still meet on a monthly basis, and are attended by approximately 25-35 people. Each session is hosted by a specialist nurse and psychologist who facilitate a free-flowing discussion amongst group members.

Katie Susser, the Critical Care Recovery Nurse Lead who facilitates the current peer group, which is supported by Guy's & St Thomas' Charity, said: “It is such a privilege to witness the visible positive impact that these groups have on patients.

Many people who attend the group feel that they have gone through a traumatic experience that other people struggle to understand. There is something incredible about seeing these people come together to help each other through what can be one the most emotionally difficult and challenging periods of their life.

Given the popularity of these group sessions, Katie has organised an in-person tea party to bring together ICU survivors who have benefitted from the support group over the years. The event will be held in March and will be attended by nearly 100 past and present group members. This event has been supported by funding from Guy’s & St Thomas’ Charity, which aims to fund activities and tools to improve patient care and enhance staff wellbeing.

Katie said: “Since the start of the support group in 2016, we’ve had hundreds of people attend these sessions. Some patients only come for short periods, while others have been attending the group for years. We had feedback from patients that it would be nice to do something in-person so we wanted to hold an event to celebrate all the patients that have attended the group over the years.” 

Seb Harcombe’s play, Elysium, was performed on 21 February at Guy’s Chapel.