GASPING FOR AIR
‘Healthy’ coronavirus dad, 39, filmed ‘goodbye video’ for family after lung collapsed & could only ‘breathe by sniffing’
A HEALTHY dad who filmed a "goodbye video" for his family after contracting coronavirus today said he could only "breathe by sniffing" as he fought the killer bug.
Matt Dockray, 39, from Marlow, Bucks, said he “couldn’t get off the couch” and his body “couldn’t function” when he fell ill last month.
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He was rushed to hospital and doctors said he became critically ill after his lungs failed.
Mr Dockray said he "literally couldn't breathe", adding: "A deep sniff in, that’s as much as I could get in."
He told Good Morning Britain he had no choice but to record a message to his family because they were banned from visiting him.
It comes as the British death toll reached 1,829 with more than 25,000 people becoming infected by the killer virus.
RUSHED TO HOSPITAL
Mr Dockray said: “I got carted into an ambulance and I was sat in an isolation room.
“They come in and listen to your chest – they explained that very little oxygen was getting in.
“Because my symptoms got worse over the three weeks, there was a real chance I wasn’t going to get better.
“I asked the doctor if I could speak to my wife. I couldn’t speak to tell her how serious it was.
“So I recorded a message to my wife and little one as a goodbye.
“I didn’t want to FaceTime and do it. I wanted to do anything I could to make sense of it.”
COULDN'T BREATHE
Mr Dockray started to get “a bit of a cough” when he went to League Cup final at Wembley between Aston Villa and Manchester City.
He added: “I’m one of the lucky ones who gets to sit here and talk about it.
“I started feeling ill quite a few weeks ago. On March 1 I went to the League Cup final.
“I started getting a bit of a cough and started to feel a little bit unwell during that week.
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“But it was a very time for me at work and carried on through but it started to get progressively worse.
“I started started to get shortness of breath, chest pains and a really bad fever. Every day got worse and worse.
“I was left completely incapacitated. I couldn’t get off the couch, couldn’t function, my wife could see how poorly I was getting.
“It got to the point where I literally couldn’t breathe. A deep sniff in, that’s as much as I could get in.”
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