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The family of a “devoted father” who died after appearing to have recovered from Covid-19 has described how he suffered a sudden relapse before dying when he was transferred to hospital.
Dom Merrix suffered a heart attack after he had a rapid deterioration in his health that left him struggling to breathe at his home in Portsmouth, Hampshire.
The 48-year-old man had been in self-isolation for 16 days after he began suffering from coronavirus symptoms, although he was not tested.
His 11-year-old partner, Sarah Merrix, 44, and his 10-year-old daughter, Ellie-Mai, had been living upstairs in his home while he stayed downstairs.
Family friend Rachel Hibbert said: “She got up normally and wanted to shower.
“It sounded absolutely fine.
“Then out of nowhere, it happened.
“He texted his daughter to open the windows because she was struggling to breathe.
Then he texted Sarah asking for help.
Sarah went downstairs and found him on his hands and knees struggling to breathe.
“When the paramedics arrived they put him on the tram and asked him to lie down, but he couldn’t do it.”
“That was it. Then the ambulance doors closed. They never saw him alive again.
Her heart stopped and the paramedics spent 20 minutes outside the house trying to start again.
“When he got to the hospital they couldn’t bring him back.”
Ms. Hibbert said the Merrix family said her death was a warning that people of all ages can be victims of the virus.
She said: “People think it will not happen to them because they are fit and young.
“Dom was fit and young and that killed him.
“He tore his family apart and left her devastated.”
The family is organizing a blue Pompey coffin for Mr. Merrix, who was a longtime Portsmouth Football Club fan.
A fundraising page has also been created to support the family at: gofundme.com/f/support-sarah-and-elliemai
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