Fair City’s Ryan Andrews said he feared the country reopening after his dad’s near-death Covid experience.
The actor, who plays Sean Cassidy, told how his father Jimmy, 57, was struck down by the virus in January and ended up in intensive care and an induced coma.
Ryan told the Irish Mirror: “It was a massive shock. One day, you think everything is great and everything is fine and then the next, your world is literally being turned upside down and you are waiting on a phone.”
As Ireland emerges from lockdown, the former Dancing With The Stars finalist admitted he was hesitant about society reopening.
Ryan said: “My dad was in there for 10 days. He was on a life support machine for six days and when people kept going ‘no such thing as Covid’ and the numbers are down and we need everything to open up,
I was going ‘lock it down, lock it down’.
“Jesus don’t open them up because I don’t want anyone else to experience what me and my family went through.
“But you can kind of feel things picking up and getting better now. And hopefully it keeps continuing on.
“Me and my dad have the most amazing relationship and I ring him six or seven times a day. I see him every single day, he is a best friend, so there was a point where I said to myself, if he did pass on or he didn’t make it that I was comfortable with that.”
Stage school owner Ryan is also ready to get back in action in live performances as the co-host of The Live Drive-In Park N Party. He added: “It’s something new and exciting. I can’t wait.”
The show is coming to Malahide Castle from July 30 to August 2, Junction 14 Mayfield, Kildare, August 6 to 8 and the Black Box, Galway, August 27 to 29.
