A "health freak" is in hospital with Covid after being put off getting the vaccine by anti-vaxxers.
Marcus Birks, 40, is expecting a baby with his wife in November but his health still hangs in the balance.
Mr Birks, developed blood clots after contracting the virus and is now in Royal Stoke University hospital.
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The BBC report his illness started with regular flu like symptoms but progressively deteriorated to the point he was gasping for air.
Marcus said: "When you feel like you can't get enough breath, it's the scariest feeling in the world.
"I kind of was ignorant towards it and just put it off. First thing I am going to tell all my family to do is get the vaccine and anybody I see.
"And as soon as I can get it, I am definitely getting it."
Marcus's mum says the family is "in bits" but does manage to speak to her son through facetime.
She told, StokeTrentLive : "He thought it was everybody’s choice if they wanted to have the vaccine or not.
"He is a health freak and he likes to go to the gym all the time. He is 100% healthy. He doesn’t like taking paracetamol.
“It was his choice at the time not to take the vaccine. Now he wishes he had taken it.
“He is in hospital very poorly with Covid and blood clots. It’s a bit of a bad time what he is going through at the moment.
“We are all upset about it. It’s not a joke, it’s something serious.
“He is a singer so it’s going to affect his career after everything else that’s happened. He hadn’t been able to work and just when he was getting all these bookings and gigs he had to cancel it all because of what happened to him.
“His music career means everything to him, he has worked hard all his life to be where he is now.
“We all miss him, we’ve been in bits. I’ve texted him saying I want him back home, I want him healthy and I want him back on that stage doing what he loves to do.”
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