Heartbroken family warns of reality of covid after sceptic dad dies after contracting virus

Former miner Ian Stephenson, from Horden, downplayed the risks of Covid likening it to a bad dose of flu, his family said.

But despite being fit and having no underlying health conditions, he succumbed to the disease at the age of just 58.

And in a phone call to his family from hospital, said: “It’s real”.

Now Ian’s family including his son James and daughter-in-law Vicki Hutchinson are sharing their experience to raise awareness of the dangers of Covid.

Vicki, 34, said: “People think it’s not real but it is. It’s broken all of our hearts.

"If I can save one family by believing this virus is real and not to have to go through the heartache we have gone through then I will have done something.”

Ian died on Tuesday, November 10, in Sunderland Royal Hospital. He felt unwell the previous Sunday and by the Friday his condition had deteriorated that his family called for an ambulance.

He was given oxygen and put on a ventilator but never recovered.

Vicki said: “In a phone call before going on the ventilator he said ‘I’ve got covid, it’s real’.

"He said ‘I can’t breathe. I feel like I’m drowning.’

"He used to say ‘you are worrying for nothing’ and we said ‘it’s real, it’s out there’.

"It’s not the papers or the Government trying to control us. You can’t go from being fit and healthy to being taken.”

Wearing full PPE, the hospital allowed James into hospital to say goodbye to Ian. Vicki thanked the hospital for their efforts to save him.

Ian worked as a taxi driver for 25 years before stopping to deliver for CL’s Diner which Vicki runs.

He partner to Lorraine McDowell and also dad to Jonathan, 28, and Stacey, 30.

Ian lived in Horden all his life and flew pigeons for years. A large number of his family and friends held a balloon release on what would have been his 59th birthday on November 14.

Ian’s funeral will take place at St Mary's Church, Horden, on Thursday, November 19, at 11am.

People wishing to pay their respects are asked to stand socially-distanced outside the church.

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