Dad joked about being off work before death
A DAD-OF-THREE suffering with Covid-19 joked about having “another week off work” after news of his positive test. A day later he had died.
Known as a “funny” and loving father, Stagecoach bus driver Kevin Woolley, 42, collapsed at home and later died, having fallen ill with the virus just days previously, and finding out he had tested positive on January 3.
In a poignant Facebook message to friends and family on January 2, Kevin described how he was struggling with a nasty cough that kept him awake.
He wrote: “Worst night ever last night. Climbed the stairs at 9pm, started coughing and was still coughing after 11.30pm.
“Finally dropped off, but only for an hour, then the coughing came back.
“Coughing blood in the early hours. Dropped off about 6am and was back up by 7am.”
Then, on January 3, at 6.31am, the day before he died, he wrote another Facebook post with a picture of his positive coronavirus test result.
In it, he wrote: “Another week off work then. At least I know I wasn’t just being girly with a normal cold though!”
His brother, Stuart Woolley, 46, said Kevin’s rapid decline was a huge and distressing shock for the family and they wanted to raise awareness of just how devastating coronavirus can be.
Despite being previously healthy, Stuart said his brother was found unconscious by his partner Carol in their home in Abercynon, near Pontypridd, on the morning of January 4.
Paramedics were called, but sadly there was nothing more they could do to save him, he said.
Train driver Stuart said that since his brother’s death, he’d found it particularly frustrating seeing and hearing of members of the public breaking Covid19 rules.
He said: “I’m a key worker and while I’m travelling around the country, I see people breaking the rules all the time – people with no masks, with masks under their nose, and it’s so frustrating. You just want to go up and shake them and say ‘look, it can take anyone.’
“Kevin had no known underlying illnesses, he went to the gym and his fishing would get him up and about. As far as I’m aware, there was nothing known to be underlying and the post mortem hasn’t picked anything else up.”
Stuart said his brother’s death came as an even bigger shock after his own experience with coronavirus, which he completely recovered from.
“He contacted me the day before his test and asked what my symptoms were,” Stuart said.
“I said I had a phlegmy cough and he said he was coughing up some blood – not a massive amount.
“I think the only other symptom he really had was loss of appetite compared to usual.
“I previously had coronavirus and when he tested positive, I said to him that ‘it’ll knock you out for a week or so and fingers crossed you’ll get through it.’ That’s what happened to me, I rested and recovered.
“He had his test on January 1, the results on January 3 and he passed away on the morning of January 4. The funeral was only last week, so that knocked us for six.”
Kevin, originally from Wattsville, near Risca, is also survived by his three children, Joshua 15, Ffion, 14, and his youngest son Oscar, seven, from his previous marriage.
According to Stuart, his brother was also cherished by his work colleagues at Stagecoach as well as the many people he met through his biggest passion, fishing.
Stuart said: “He enjoyed playing football when he was younger for a couple of local teams, but then, for the last 35 years, fishing took over his life.
“And that’s the main thing that people have been getting in touch with me about – the fact he would organise their first fishing boat trips. He was doing so much with other people in the fishing fraternity.
“It was incredible seeing the amount of people who got in touch with me about him after his passing.
“He had been a bus and coach driver for around 15 years, he worked for Megabus and the local bus companies but it was mostly Stagecoach – he was working on the service buses when he passed.
“I had been talking to his boss at Stagecoach and they agreed for a bus to come and drive through Wattsville on the morning of his funeral in tribute to him.
“It had his name on the front and was driven by one of the guys he used to go fishing with.”
Stuart added that though their busy work schedules meant the brothers could not meet over the years as often as they would like to have done, it did not impact their brotherly bond.
He said they regularly kept in touch via an online chat group with friends called the “Chaps Group” where they would have a laugh with each other as well as support each other through ups and downs.
He said: “We didn’t have too much time for socialising as we both work shifts, the last gig we went to was Goldie Lookin’ Chain in Blackwood Miners’ Institute, but when we could we’d go for some drinks and he was always winding people up and having a laugh.
“We always used to squabble as kids growing up as brothers do, but then obviously when you mature you realise you love each other no matter what and as much as I could, as his big brother, I’d protect him.”
Though Kevin had coronavirus at the time of his death, Stuart said the family were still waiting for the final coroner’s report.