‘I want to give someone else a fighting chance’

SIMON CALLON SURVIVED CORONAVIRUS BUT HE LOST HIS ELDERLY FATHER TO IT – NOW HE HAS DONATED BLOOD PLASMA TO RESEARCH INTO POSSIBLE TREATMENTS FOR COVID-19

We want as many people as possible to donate plasma Professor Dave Roberts, associate director of blood donation at NHS Blood and Transplant

CORONAVIRUS was a bit of a mystery to Simon Callon – as it was to most of us – in the early days of the pandemic. But he would soon learn the devastating effects of Covid-19 when his father Noel was struck down by it.

“When I got sick in March 2020, we didn’t know much about Covid,” says Simon, 51, a food company quality controller. His girlfriend became ill too. “When our symptoms started – fevers, backache, joint pain – we isolated for two weeks at home in St Helens and recovered pretty quickly.”

Simon’s mother Kathleen has an inflammatory condition so her family scrupulously kept their distance. “We’d stand at the end of the drive to talk and they seemed in good spirits,” he says.

“But on Good Friday, Dad had a fall and when he went to hospital, a routine test showed he had Covid. He declined so fast that by the Monday we were told he had an hour to live. He wasn’t allowed visitors, so it was devastating having to say our goodbyes and tell him we loved him by passing a message to a nurse.”

Noel Callon was 89 when he died and while only 10 family members were allowed inside the crematorium for his funeral, friends from his art group paid their respects outside. “They all held up their paintbrushes as a guard of honour. It really choked us up,” remembers Simon.

GOOD FEELING

When he was better, Simon was invited to donate blood plasma for use in NHS medical research to find Covid-19 treatments. Donating was easy, he says: “It doesn’t hurt and it feels good to give someone like my dad a fighting chance.”

Professor Dave associate director

Roberts, of blood donation at NHS Blood and Transplant, says: “Donations are vital to ongoing, lifesaving research. We want as many people as possible to donate plasma.”