A grandfather who tested positive for Covid-19 after thinking he just had a sickness bug died after battling the deadly virus for 10 days.

Robert Ridgard, from Margate and known as Bob, was 66 when he passed away at the QEQM hospital on March 31.

KMTV report on the story

The father-of four, who had five grandchildren, had been rushed to hospital by ambulance on Mothers' Day after his wife Sylvia was unable to rouse him at their Margate home.

In the days before, the computer engineer and his wife had been struck down with a sickness bug, but they wrote it off as just noravirus.

Mr Ridgard spent 10 days in intensive care on a ventilator after testing positive for Covid-19, but sadly never regained consciousness.

His daughter Kerry Head, 36, from Margate, says they were unable to see him in hospital, but that the "amazing" staff made sure he wasn't alone during his final days.

"They were absolutely brilliant," she said.

"I phoned ICU three times a day and they explained what was going on - they were lovely but they didn't sugar-coat anything.

"They told me 'don't worry, he's not alone' which was a comfort as we couldn't see him.

"They would say 'he's not on his own, we've spoken to him', even though he wasn't awake, which is such a nice little touch when we know they're so busy.

"The staff made an awful situation more bearable."

Mum-of-three Mrs Head says her father's condition deteriorated, his kidney's began to fail and he wasn't responding to treatment so the heartbreaking decision to switch off his ventilator was made.

"The staff again were amazing and offered my mum the chance to see him via video or to go to see him before it was turned off," she said.

"But she has COPD and asthma so is high risk so it was safer for her not to go."

'He was the person you would go to if you needed anything repaired, he loved fixing everything' - Kerry Head

Mrs Head says her father had underlying health issues, having suffered heart attacks and was having tests due to issues with his blood.

"You don't expect this, though," she said.

"My mum would have been with him as normal and then the next day the last time we all see him is him going to hospital in an ambulance.

"Me and my brother Shaun, who's a police officer, had rushed round to their house but when I got to the hospital I was sent home and told to go into isolation and anyone else who had been in contact with him."

She says they are now in the process of arranging his funeral by phone and at the moment they have been told only 10 people can attend.

Mrs Head says her dad, who worked at Simtech in Northdown Road in Cliftonville, was a "tinkerer".

"He was the person you would go to if you needed anything repaired," she said.

"He loved to fix everything - anything fiddly, he was the person to see."

The family is so grateful to the hospital staff that cared for him, they are asking that instead of sending flowers people donate to a fundraising page they have set up to raise money for the NHS.

To donate click here

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