My Danny didn’t drink or smoke .. he died 3 days after taking ill
Shock at death of healthy grandad
THE widow of a “healthy” grandad who died from coronavirus told how her husband did not drink or smoke – but died of the illness three days after falling ill.
Danny Cairns, 68, became unwell last Monday and died at Inverclyde Royal Hospital, where his 63-year-old widow Eunice had worked as a nurse.
Dad-of-three Danny had been self-isolating at home in Greenock for a week before he began showing symptoms including a cough and high temperature.
Eunice told how it took 24 hours for her husband of 43 years to be diagnosed and said she instinctively felt he would not survive it.
Gran-of-two Eunice urged the public to stay indoors to prevent the spread of Covid-19.
Eunice said: “Danny was a healthy person, he was a wee bit overweight but he didn’t smoke or drink and I am so shocked at how quickly it took hold – it was so out of the blue. “It’s just so unbelievable. “People watch it on TV and think it is happening in London, Spain or Italy.
“I feel like shouting to these people, ‘Stay in and keep safe.’”
Danny, a former employee at the Department for Work and Pensions, started to feel unwell on Monday night and he passed away on Thursday morning.
Eunice said: “It started with a cough and a high temperature.
“I called NHS 24 and it was a nightmare trying to get through because they were so inundated with calls. “The paramedics came out to the house and were absolutely fantastic and I can’t speak highly enough of the doctors and nurses in J North. “We had been self-isolating for seven days before Danny took ill and I had underlying health conditions, so I thought that if anyone would have taken ill it would have been me. “My family would bring food and leave it at the door.” Eunice worked as a nurse at Inverclyde Royal before taking early retirement and said she had “never seen anything like” the deadly virus. She said: “As soon as Danny was taken into hospital he was tested.
“It took 24 hours for the result to come back that he was positive for coronavirus.
“My heart sank because I knew there was absolutely no way he would survive that.
“I think he would like to be remembered for the friendly, lovely guy everyone knew him to be. “He had a heart of gold. “I couldn’t have had a better husband or the boys a better father.”
And she urged the public to follow Government warnings and observe the lockdown.
Eunice added: “If they don’t there are going to be more deaths.”