A STROKE on the operating table saw a newlywed husband hospitalised for six months – but sending love letters helped his wife stay in touch despite Covid restrictions.

Matthew Stamper, 53, was having a brain tumour removed when he suffered the stroke during surgery.

Wife Alice, 49, was terrified by the thought of six months apart when he was transferred to the regional hyperacute rehabilitation unit at Northwick Park hospital – a three-hour round trip from their Billericay home.

But Letters to your Loved Ones, a hospital initiative designed to keep relatives in touch, proved a “real life saver” for the couple - who married in March days before lockdown hit.

Letters to your Loved Ones allows relatives to send messages, greetings cards and pictures to any of the four London North West University Healthcare NHS Trusts.

Alice was juggling hospital visits around her full-time job as a legal secretary but was able to stay in touch with Matthew every day under the scheme.

She said: “The staff were fantastic and read the messages out to Matt as he was suffering from double vision. It just meant I and Matt’s family could be in contact with him every day. It meant a lot to both of us and he has two folders full of messages at home.”

Letters to your Loved Ones was an initiative started by Dr Bhavya Tyagi and colleagues at the rehabilitation unit who recognised the healing power of communication.

Restricted visiting hours during the pandemic made it harder for families to visit their loved ones and give the much-desired human contact patients look forward to during their hospital stay.

Dr Tyagi said: “We just wanted to help people make that connection. No one wants to be tin hospital and visiting hours are the highlight of the day for most people so having that taken away is tough.

“It’s easy to forget that human contact – even if it is via an electronic device – is part of the healing process. It isn’t just about medicine.”