A 66-year-old mum has died just days after developing coronavirus symptoms, while her son fights for his own life in hospital.
Tributes have poured in for community volunteer Linda Tuppen, who tragically died on Saturday, just five days after she began to feel unwell.
She had had been caring for her son Rob, who contracted Covid-19 after returning from Krakow in Poland earlier this month, then she fell ill herself, the Manchester Evening News reports.
Linda's death has left her family and community in shock, as she was well known locally the vice chairman of her Neighbourhood Watch group in Astley Bridge, Bolton.
Now her other son James is in hospital too, fighting for his life after he also fell ill with the virus.
Her family have told of how she began complaining of chest infection symptoms on Monday, March 30.
Her symptoms escalated to pain in her sinuses and she stayed in bed all day the following Thursday and Friday.
Her son, software engineer Rob, was so concerned for his mother he called 111.
But Linda, a much-loved former teacher and nursery nurse, refused to speak to them and said she just wanted to sleep.
Tragically, he went to check on her the next morning and found that she had passed away.
Rob, 28, said: “I was in a panic, she was just lay there, and I shouted ‘mum, mum,’ but she didn’t answer.
“I was doing chest compressions until the ambulance came. I was still in the room when he came over and said she was gone.“It’s devastating, we lost our father in 2008, so we’re pretty much on our own now.
“She was a kind, loving lady who adored me and James and would have done anything for us.
“She always used to say that we are were her lives. She would do anything for anyone.”
Linda’s youngest son James, 23, was admitted to hospital with coronavirus on Sunday, where he remains.
Rob revealed his mother had suffered with asthma before she passed away.
He said: “This is serious. This is not a joke, this could happen to anyone.
“They were fine when I came back, but then I got ill, and they’ve picked it up off me because my mum was looking after me while I was ill.
“She was putting a cloth over her mouth but it obviously didn’t work.”
At its peak, Rob described feeling so exhausted by coronavirus he would almost black out walking from his bed to his door.
He said: “Your temperature is sky high, so you’re constantly freezing cold and shivering, then other times you’re basically roasting hot and you have to take your coat off.
“You have a really high fever and I was constantly freezing cold in bed or roasting to the point where I just had to take all my clothes off because I was that hot.
“The cough is really bad, when you’re coughing you feel like you can’t stop.
“Your body aches and even the smallest of tasks, like going to the toilet, is one of the hardest things you can do.
“It got to the point where I was really dehydrated and I couldn’t eat for a week.
“And because I wasn’t eating, when I stood up I felt like I was going to pass out.
“I would have to run from the toilet to my room, which is about five steps, because I felt like I was going to black out.”
A fundraising page has been set up to help Rob and James through this devastating time.
Anyone interested in donating can follow the link by clicking here.
