Derriford coronavirus patient sends warning from his hospital bed while 'fighting for his life'

A man 'fighting for his life' on a Derriford Hospital Covid-19 ward has made a heartbreaking plea for people to stay at home.

Raymond Lloyd has been in hospital since December, after everyone in household caught the virus - including his young grandson.

53-year-old Raymond can be seen tearing up in the warning he has issued from his 'amber zone' hospital bed, as he admits he thought he was going to die.

He says it makes him 'so upset' to see reports of people ignoring government guidance put in place to stop the spread of the virus.

Raymond says he has a "different perspective" on life after contracting the virus, and despite thoughts to "just give up", he continues to fight to return to his family.

"I didn't eat for days and days," he said.

"I was always thinking well there's people on TV who aren't complying. I was so upset about it. I want to go home to my family and not die in here.

"It's like two little things on your shoulders, one saying this is so painful just give up and go to sleep and don't wake up, and the other is thinking I've got family and they've all got this, all of them even the baby, my grandson, he's got it.

"It just makes you have a different perspective in life."

Raymond praised the hospital staff caring for him during this period.

He said he's going to be in hospital for a while, but has praised the efforts of the nurses taking care of him.

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Dr Mehak Tahir said it was "really frightening" to see the number of young and healthy individuals being admitted to University Hospitals Plymouth NHS Trust."You get all these people who are young and you can relate to them and they've got young kids at home. It's also really variable who gets the severe form of the disease."

Speaking about Raymond's condition, she continued: "One of the young-ish gentlemen we have on the ward just now, he's a 53-year-old chap, all his family got it, but he is the only one who needed to come in and the only one who got the severe form of the disease."