Coronavirus: Grieving woman shares final text from fiance who died with COVID-19
Katie Martin says her fiance Richard told her he was being put on a ventilator, leaving him with a 50/50 chance of survival.
Tuesday 28 April 2020 07:49, UK
Richard McKeag spent the last month of his life volunteering as a carer in his community.
Until the symptoms started.
First came the dry cough followed by a fever and before he knew it he was struggling to breathe.
The 29 year-old died with COVID-19 in hospital just four days after being admitted.
Fiancee Katie Martin, 25, said: "He said that he wasn't feeling well with a bit of a dry cough. We were joking about it.
"But he deteriorated really, really rapidly.
"He couldn't sleep, he couldn't walk. Eventually he couldn't breathe."
Miss Martin, a home care manager, phoned NHS 111 and an ambulance came to take Mr McKeag to hospital.
"Unfortunately, Ricky's oxygen levels were quite low," Miss Martin said.
"The nurse called me and she explained that and his body was tired and he was exhausted. So they made the decision to put him on a ventilator."
From his hospital bed Mr McKeag wrote a text to his fiancee saying: "They are going to put me on a ventilator. I love you. Thank you for the best life. It's a 50/50 chance - those aren't great odds. Once I'm asleep it's in God's hands."
Before being placed on the ventilator a nurse held his phone so he could video call. It was the last time Miss Martin saw him alive.
The next day while driving, she received a call from the consultant at the hospital.
Miss Martin said: "The call was less than two minutes long.
"The doctor said he was sorry to ring. He said they were turning Richard back on to his stomach and he suffered a cardiac arrest. They weren't able to resuscitate him."
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Mr McKeag is one of the youngest victims of this crisis. His family say that it is too early and too riAG百家乐在线官网 to think about lifting the lockdown.
"All me and his family want to do is stress to people: stay home," said Miss Martin.
"But people are getting complacent now. It's been so long. People want to loosen the lockdown and reopen bars and restaurants. It's not a good idea - more people will die."