'Sometimes I just sit and cry...' dad who spent months in a coma after catching covid still spends every day in pain

It was the run up to Christmas 2020 and Kevin and his partner Irene were making plans for a quieter festive period than they would have liked. Greater Manchester and the rest of the country was in the midst of another huge wave of coronavirus infections, and families were restricted to mixing for just 24 hours.

But before Christmas day arrived, on December 17, Kevin woke up feeling pretty rough. He couldn't drag himself out of bed and Irene decided to phone 111 for advice. Less than half an hour later, an ambulance had arrived outside their home in Chorlton.

Paramedics feared the then 59-year-old may have pneumonia and that he needed to be taken to hospital immediately. With reassurance from Irene that everything was going to be okay, Kevin was rushed to Wythenshawe Hospital with suspected coronavirus.

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When she kissed goodbye to him on that cold winters night, Irene had no idea it would the last time she would see her partner of 37 years until the spring of 2021.

Neither of them had imagined that Kevin would spend the next five months battling the effects of coronavirus, which had engulfed his lungs and left him fighting for his life in a coma for several weeks.

When the Manchester Evening News was granted access to Wythenshawe Hospital's A1 respiratory ward in February 2021, we met Kevin as he was recovering from his stint in intensive care.

We saw first-hand the torment in his eyes as he recalled the fear of being told he was going to be placed into a coma - having no idea if he would ever wake up.

The dad-of-two didn't return home to Irene and their beloved dog Snowy until May 6, 2021. Since then, his recovery journey has