‘This is a deadly virus that took our parents’ - heartbroken family of Sarah (Blossom) and Barney McGlinchey urge public vigilance against COVID-19

The Greysteel couple died within six minutes of one another last Wednesday after testing positive for coronavirus shortly after Christmas.

This week their heartbroken daughter Lynne has an important message to deliver to those who continue to flout the public health guidelines and fail to take the SARS-COV-2 virus seriously.

“We feared COVID-19 and we were patiently awaiting the vaccine. We never doubted that it was real. We knew it was a deadly virus. My mum and dad read papers that really frightened them. I brought the papers to them and part of me thought, ‘should I be doing this because it is so frightening for my parents?’ As a family we see and hear myths and misinformation with regards to COVID-19 but we can tell the public - and we really hope they will please listen - that this is a deadly virus. It took our parents.”

Lynne said that while their family were enduring their worst nightmare the compassion shown to them by the health care staff at Altnagelvin was awe-inspiring.

“Towards the end they would ask us, ‘what do you want us to do with your father and mother?’ We said, ‘hold their hands if you can, pray with them, tell them we love them, tell them we are proud of them.’

“Mum and dad both spoke about the staff in the COVID-19 ward, about how friendly they were, about how they took time to talk to them, how respectful they were. They were so thankful for the care that they gave them,” said Lynne.