Moments like walking back from school with his daughters, for Mick Senior, are priceless.

They’re moments, at one point, he thought he may never have.

His COVID story is one of anguish, pain and unimaginable suffering.

In early 2021, Mick tested positive for COVID. It was the beginning of what he describes as a “journey from hell”.

“It was a weekend, and I was bringing my daughter down from Scotland to Ellesmere Port,” he recalled.

“It was then when my COVID kicked in full time. My wife called an ambulance and all I remember was being in hospital.

“They’re the last memories I have before being in intensive care and then under for three weeks.”

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During that time, at home, his wife’s health was rapidly deteriorating.

She, too, was infected, struggling to breathe. But she didn’t survive.

This tragedy was unknown to Mick, until he finally woke up.

He said: “I had a stroke when they tried to take me out of the coma, so it meant I had to stay in hospital for a lot longer. I didn’t realise then until that point that my wife wasn’t there.

“The whole time I was thinking, ‘I’m going to go home’, I thought to myself, ‘I can get there, no problem’.

“Then they said, ‘your wife’s died’ – and by that time they had the funeral, and I wasn’t even there.

“It was devastating and shattered me.”

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‘His life was shattered in a matter of days’

Mick spent six months in total in hospital. He’d suffered severe loss of mobility, speech, and memory.

Despite being told several times that his wife had passed away, short term memory problems meant he couldn’t retain the information for a long period.

The specialist teams, including NHS physiotherapist Daniel Street, had to remind him.

“It was quite difficult for us, because he would become very upset about it,” he said. “That information had to be reinforced when we went home for the first time, and he was wandering around his house opening cupboards and seeing things that reminded him of his wife, and that for him was incredibly upsetting.

“This has been a devastating, life-changing experience for him. His life was totally shattered in a matter of days.”

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‘Why did this have to happen to us?’

Mick’s two children, Faye and Sophie, were taken into care.

They’d both witnessed horrors no child ever should; from finding their mum unresponsive at home, to living in care with no idea what the future held.

Sixteen-year-old Faye is now a young carer, all whilst trying to do her GCSEs and be a normal teenager.

She said: “It’s been really tough and really hard to adjust. Me and my mum were really close, I depended on her quite a bit. If she was here, I wouldn’t be in the situation I am now, having to cook and clean and look after my dad.”

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“The night that I actually lost my mum, I was so shocked,” she added.

“You never really think it’s going to happen to you. I was upset and angry that this is happening to me. I would never wish anything like this on my worst enemy, but sometimes I think: ‘Why me? Why did this have to happen to us?’

“I miss her loads, it’s Mother’s Day coming up, and sometimes it just hits that she’s actually gone.”

As COVID rips through the country again, Mick’s story is a reminder of the devastating effects this pandemic has had on countless people – and that lives and livelihoods remain at risk.

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