Covid: Man missed mum's funeral after catching coronavirus

A man who is in hospital with Covid-19 said he missed his mother's funeral earlier this month after she died with the virus.

Kevin Hughes, 63, a Flintshire councillor, said he saw his mother June Margaret Hughes, 89, briefly before she died.

But after testing positive for Covid-19 two days later, he was unable to attend her funeral.

He said it was the "blackest day you could ever imagine".

Ms Hughes, who had underlying health conditions, had been in hospital in Chester before being discharged back to her care home. A few days later, she tested positive for coronavirus.

She was taken back to hospital, where Mr Hughes was able to visit her before she died.

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Kevin Hughes (left) missed his mother's funeral as he was in hospital with Covid-19

He said: "The hospital supplied me with all the necessary PPE. I went back in on the Tuesday, and I got there about a minute before she passed away on the Wednesday.

"The funeral was on 10 December, by which time I'd tested positive myself.

"Two days after the positive test I was taken into Wrexham Maelor Hospital casualty, taken to a Covid ward and a few hours later was on a critical care ward.

"I've been on the critical care ward now for a fortnight. Things are improving, I am getting better, but it's been a long, long process."

Missing his mother's funeral was one of the "darkest days you could imagine", Mr Hughes said

He added: "Being in hospital on the day of my mother's funeral was quite possibly the blackest day you could ever imagine. It was like being in a very very long, dark tunnel.

"The amazing staff here commented that my eyes were just dull, they were lifeless. It was just an awful, awful day."

He said "every bed" in the ward was full at the hospital and it "could be months" before he recovers.

He added: "I had the target of being home for Christmas. Sadly, I'm probably not going to make that. It'll be, in 43 years of marriage, the first Christmas me and (my wife) Sally have spent apart, but let's hope we've got a lot more Christmases with our sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren to come."

Mr Hughes has now warned others to follow the rules in place for Christmas: "I fear for the NHS because they just can not possibly cope with anymore. We're asking them the impossible, we really are.

"Don't make silly decisions just for the sake of one day, or one night, or one party. Just think about what you're doing, because people are dying and they'll continue to die... and then these guys here just can't cope, and it's not fair on them because they're incredible."