Coronavirus: Lancashire victim's touching farewell to fiancee

A 29-year-old man who died after testing positive for coronavirus messaged his fiancee to say "thank you for the best life" before he went into a coma.

Richard McKeag, known as Ricky, was working on-call care support shifts before contracting the virus, his partner Katie Martin, 25, said.

The couple, from Bacup, Lancashire, had been together for more than five years.

Ms Martin said: "We wanted to get married next year."

The couple were working together before they both contracted the virus earlier this month.

Ms Martin, a registered care manager for people with learning disabilities, said web designer Mr McKeag started working with her as a recruitment manager after the pandemic outbreak,

"I started with a cold and sneezing, and Ricky started with a bad cough and he was struggling to breathe properly when he was walking," she said

"Ricky became a lot more unwell and he wasn't able to eat, wasn't able to sleep and was in pain."

Mr McKeag, who was originally from Hyde, Greater Manchester, was taken to the Royal Blackburn Hospital by ambulance last week.

Doctors decided to put him into a coma and on a ventilator after they spent 24 hours trying to give him oxygen.

The last time Ms Martin spoke to him was over the phone.

She said: "He was the one trying to reassure me and telling me it was going to be ok.

"He said, 'I love you. Please tell my gran that I love her.'

"After we spoke he messaged and said 'Thank you for the best life.'

"The hardest thing is I wasn't allowed to go and be with him. I wasn't allowed to sit with him. I just got a call saying he had died," said Ms Martin.

She said Mr McKeag had suffered with asthma as a child but was otherwise healthy.

Ms Martin added: "We just thought, 'we're young, we're healthy, we're all right and there's other people we want to make sure are ok.'"