Devastated by the sudden loss of Richard to Strep A
Wife abseiling down hotel to raise money for ICU heroes
We’d made plans to go to California, we were looking forward to that
PHOEBE MCDONALD YESTERDAY
A WOMAN has opened up on the shock and sadness of losing her husband after he contracted Strep A and passed away.
Richard Mcdonald died in October aged 60 – just days after he complained of having a sore throat.
His wife Phoebe is now taking on an abseil fundraiser for the ICU team who looked after him in Antrim Area Hospital.
After first coming home early from work with a sore throat and a temperature, Richard was later rushed to hospital with suspected sepsis and died three days after he was admitted.
Phoebe said: “It started with Strep A in the throat, for most people it’s not serious but it became what they call invasive, and the bacteria got into his bloodstream. That then caused sepsis which led to Toxic Shock Syndrome which then led to Richard’s death, and it all just happened so quickly they couldn’t do anything to save him.
“The staff in the ICU were just incredible, they did everything they could to save him.
“It was an unusual thing to happen to someone of Richard’s age. He was a very fit, healthy man and had no health problems before that.
“A few days before he had been doing some work around the house, up and down ladders and he was fit as a fiddle.”
Phoebe described
PROUD
Richard as a massive loss for her and their two children, one that they are still dealing with months later. The husband and wife from Ballymena, Co Antrim, had plans to travel the world as Richard approached retirement but sadly it was not to be the case.
Phoebe said: “Richard was a keen classic car enthusiast, he had rebuilt a couple of classic cars and loved the garden and being outside. He was hoping to retire in a couple of years’ time and we had been making plans to go to California, we were just looking forward to doing that together.
“The suddenness of it was just unbelievable, how quickly he became so unwell.
“The local church community here has been a great source of support to us in the last few months.”
Phoebe will take to the roof of the Europa Hotel next month in the fundraiser. She said: “I had thought about this right from Richard’s death that I wanted to do something for the ICU team.
“It would have been his 61st birthday so I have been planning this for a while, they were just incredible and devastated that they couldn’t save him.”