A party to celebrate dad’s new lease of life
THIS is the emotional moment dozens of friends and family threw a surprise homecoming party for a dad given just minutes to live after catching a deadly form of pneumonia.
Paul Honey, who made an amazing recovery after being played daily mobile phone recordings of his son Korie, thought he was going to a cousin’s 30th birthday party. But instead 150 pals and relatives were waiting to welcome him home at the bash at the Wellfield Club in Rochdale.
The superfit 28-year-old, who used to go to the gym three times a week, fell seriously ill on Christmas Day and his family were told to prepare for the worst. He spent 11 days in a coma after his lungs collapsed and at one point he was said to be the most critical patient in the north west. But, inspired by the daily mobile phone videos of six-year-old Korie his wife Casey played to him, Paul made a miraculous recovery and just 26 days later was back home in Turf Hill, Rochdale. And to celebrate, his friends and family, including many from the Full Contact Performance Centre gym, in Castleton, where Paul trains, threw him a party.
Paul, who broke down in tears when guests shouted ‘surprise,’ said: “I was just gobsmacked, I didn’t know how to react. Before I got ill I don’t think I really knew how many friends I had, but now I do. Casey, 27, added: “He had no idea what we were planning. When everyone leapt out he just burst into tears. When Paul was in hospital we missed Korie’s birthday and his brother’s wedding so we thought we needed to do something to make up for it. It was absolutely brilliant to see so many people there for him.”