The family of a 25-year-old woman who died of Covid-19 have said their daughter’s death shows the virus can affect young as well as old and appealed to people who are breaking lockdown rules to take them more seriously.
Lauren Jones, who worked as an administrator in a doctor’s surgery in Tonypandy, south Wales, died at the Royal Glamorgan hospital with her parents, Paul and Karen, at her bedside.
Mr Jones, a police officer, told the Guardian he believed Lauren fell ill so quickly that she did not have the chance to fight the virus.
He said: “If people think this virus is not going to affect them in any way then they are not looking realistically at it. Anyone can be affected by this virus no matter how old. It can have devastating effects on a person and their family.
“We want this pandemic to go away. Unfortunately, Lauren won’t have the benefit of seeing the future but if the message of what has happened to her can save other lives then that is really what we want to get across.
“It’s shocked everyone. People just don’t realise what can happen with this virus. It’s a horrid virus. It is taking lives and can take young lives too. Sadly it took Lauren’s. It must have taken its grip so quickly on her she never really had the chance to fight it. It all happened so quickly.”
Mr Jones, his daughter and wife, an NHS worker, all tested positive for Covid-19 in December and both parents had short spells in hospital. The three, from the village of Llwynypia in Rhondda Cynon Taf, felt so unwell on Christmas Day that they did not even open their presents.
Shortly after Christmas, Lauren told her father that she thought she should go and be checked over at the hospital.
Mr Jones watched his daughter walk through the hospital doors and expected her to come home later that day. She was kept in and next day phoned her mother, telling her she had eaten some ice-cream and drunk some water, and was going to be on a machine to help her breathe. She told her parents not to worry.
But the next message from the hospital came from doctors warning them that Lauren’s life was in danger. Mr Jones said he would never forget the doctor’s words: “They said it would simply be prolonging the inevitable and Lauren wouldn’t survive the night.”
She died on 30 December. One of the most difficult moments after Lauren’s death was when they opened the Christmas presents she had given them.
Lauren had a condition called complex regional pain syndrome in her foot, which meant she used crutches. She also had high blood pressure – but her parents say they had not believed her to be at high risk from Covid-19.
Because Lauren worked for a doctor’s surgery and her mother works for the NHS, both were close to receiving a first vaccination.
The family said they were told Lauren was the youngest person to die in the Royal Glamorgan hospital and said staff were distraught at her death.
As well as working at the doctor’s surgery, Lauren delivered beauty products in her village. She loved animals, music and travelling. Her family plan to hold a special event in her memory when the pandemic is over.
More than £5,000 has been raised by friends, ranging from police colleagues of Mr Jones to a local Chinese takeaway, for the grieving family.
Asked if people were taking the lockdown seriously enough, Mr Jones said: “I think some people are taking it seriously but there are lot who are not. I think the message is getting out there a bit more but there are a lot of people out there who are in denial over Covid and are not following the simple rules. It’s not difficult to follow the rules.”
In November, Gladys Lewis, 74, and her two sons, Dean, 44, and Darren, 42, all from south Wales, died of Covid in the space of five days. Their surviving relatives were targeted by social media trolls who claimed the virus was a hoax.
Свежие комментарии