The family of a mother-of-five who died with Covid-19 has shared her final Facebook posts voicing her fear that ‘she might not make it’.
Karen Hobbs, 40, suffered a cardiac arrest and died on January 19 in an induced coma, weeks after testing positive for coronavirus.
Described as a ‘beautiful’ and loving mother, Ms Hobbs, a former EasyJet air stewardess, fell ill with the virus before Christmas and was taken to hospital on December 27.
The emotional posts were shared on the same day Boris Johnson said he was ‘deeply sorry’ as the UK’s Covid-19 death toll officially rose above 100,000.
The Department of Health yesterday announced the deaths of 1,631 more people, bringing the total up to 100,162, while there were 20,089 more infections announced.
Despite previously being ‘fit and healthy’, the Cardiff mother’s condition quickly deteriorated and the decision was made to put her into an induced coma.
As someone who rarely left the house during the pandemic, it is unclear how she caught the virus.
Now, her family have spoken out a week after her death to urge people to stick to lockdown rules.
Describing the days before Karen was admitted to hospital, Rachel Hobbs, Ms Hobbs’ sister, said: ‘For the first couple of days she was at home. She couldn’t do anything basically, she was in bed, had no energy.
‘I thought she was going to collapse because of her cough and her breathing.
‘You see it on the TV when they’re on the oxygen and everything but it’s different when someone is in front of you doing it.
In her memory, staff at the intensive care department have given each of Ms Hobbs’ children a hand print and a lock of her hair as well as a memory box.
Rachel said: ‘She was just in a coma. She looked quite peaceful, she wouldn’t have known anything about it.
‘Then the kids went in to see her, they were really upset. They had a child psychologist there, explaining it to them.
‘We were just gobsmacked. We just thought she’ll go in and come out in a few weeks and she’ll get better.
‘It hasn’t sunk it. I didn’t think it would be her, a fit and healthy person.’