Family keeping "everything crossed" as father fights COVID-19 in hospital

A family have told how their loved one is fighting COVID-19 in hospital - and they are "keeping everything crossed" to make sure he comes out of this alive.

65-year-old Melvin Knight was rushed to Nottingham City Hospital after he started struggling to breathe. He has remained on an isolated ward forthe last 10 days.

His wife, Julie, 58, and his son, Alex who is 21, have not seen Melvin sinceparamedics put him in an ambulance.

Melvin, from Clifton, who suffers from lung conditions, was "gasping for breath" on Friday, April 3, after battling symptoms for a couple of weeks.

Alex added: "I am just thankful that I am back from university. It is a time when you don't need to be on your own. You don't know what to do, it's just surreal, you can't imagine it.

"There is nothing you can do. We can't go and see him and lift his spirits. We are useless. It is like torture."

Mrs Knight said: "They are saying it could go either way." The family said the nurses and doctors looking after him have been fantastic and they felt compelled to help out those who are trying to get Melvin better.

Alex, who is in his third year at Sheffield Hallam University, performed an online DJ set from his Nottingham home to raise money for the nurses and doctors on his dad's ward.

They have already provided frontline staff with free pizzas and are hoping to present the money to the ward to help in the fight against the deadly virus.

Alex has now decided to follow a degree in nursing and said it "feels like a call to arms."

Melvin still has his mobile phone, and the family chat to him as much as they can, with the dad-of-one even watching his son's DJ set from his bedside.

Mrs Knight added: "What keeps us going and Melvin is all the positive messages. Sometimes we don't want to talk to people and sometimes we do. The good thing that has come out of this is a real sense of community."