Tributesto Thomas,24
Tributes have been paid to a Wishaw man who died following a disturbance in the early hours of the morning.
A man has been arrested following the death of 24-year-old Thomas Nelson, known as Tam.
Officers were called to a home in Carron Street in the Pather area of the town just after 2am on April 14.
Thomas was rushed to hospital but died shortly afterwards.
A Police Scotland spokesperson said: “A report was received of a disturbance outside a property on Carron Street in Wishaw around 2.05am.
“A 24-year-old man was taken to the University Hospital Wishaw following the incident. He died a short time later.
“A 28-year-old man has been arrested and enquiries are ongoing.”
Detective Inspector John Easton from the Major Investigations team added: “Our thoughts remain with the family and friends of Thomas at this very difficult time.
“Enquiries into the circumstances surrounding his death are ongoing.”
A full report will be sent to the Procurator Fiscal in due course and the man appeared at Hamilton Sheriff Court last Wednesday.
Craig McCarroll, 29, appeared in private and was charged with Thomas’ murder.
He made no plea and was remanded in custody. He is due back in court within the next week.
Surviving coronavirus has given one Wishaw man a “different perspective on life”.
John Forsyth spent eight days at University Hospital Wishaw’s High Dependency Unit (HDU) fighting for his life after testing positive for Covid-19.
Dad-of-two John, who suffers from asthma, began developing symptoms and started to self-isolate.
He continued to struggle for the next seven days with a high temperature and suffered breathing difficulties.
Wife Lesley had called NHS 24 on several occasions and, after a bad night at home, an ambulance was called and John was admitted to hospital.
John said: “It was pretty scary stuff.
“I had developed symptoms and because my father-in-law, who is 96, stays with us, I was in my room for seven days with
my wife looking after me.
“I was just getting worse and then after calling the NHS we got an ambulance out.”
John, a grandad-of-three, was taken into HDU and was expected to be in there for two to three days.
In the end he spent eight days and was put on a ventilator to help with his breathing.
Thankfully 61-year-old John, a driver for the Scottish Ambulance Service, battled bravely and was released from hospital after two weeks.
He added: “I was on oxygen and then day by day I was getting slightly better.
“The staff were superb but my respiratory driver went over and above.
“Even went I went into a ward he would still come in and see me.
“I’m still not great. I’m still quite weak and I’m struggling to get up the stairs.
“It’s been a difficult few months. I had contracted Sepsis in September and that took a while to get over.
“Then this happened. It gives you a totally different perspective on life.
“Myself and my wife had always talked about saving for the future but not now.
“Family means everything to me and I’m looking forward to spending more time with them.”
John’s health gradually began to improve and after two weeks he was eventually allowed home. The relief was incredible for the whole family.
His daughter Lee Ann Reilly said: “The care my dad got is a big part of why he is home.
“The dedication of the staff is incredible and what got him to this point.
“We are just so grateful that he is home and we have a happy ending because we didn’t think there would be one.
“My mum was distraught and it was hard because we couldn’t be there for her. She called the ward in the morning, at tea-time and then at night.
“She wasn’t getting any reassurances and we found out he was really struggling overnight.
“On the Wednesday before he got out we were able to video call him and that was really emotional.
“You could see he had lost a bit of weight but you could see he was getting better.
“On the Friday when he got out he was up and out of bed before the doctor had been to see him. We managed to see him through the window of the house when he got out and it was such a relief.
“He’s still got a wee bit of recovery to go but I’m just glad he’s home. We’ve got season tickets at Fir Park so I think he’s already looking forward to getting back there!”