A fundraiser has been launched for a Laois man who is battling Covid-19 on a ventilator in a British Hospital.
Tommy Ring, who is originally from Abbeyleix, lives in Northampton in the East Midlands with his wife Krystyna.
The 58-year-old, who is described as an outgoing person who loves music and to travel with his wife, was taken to hospital by ambulance on October 10 where he is fighting for his life having contracted Covid-19 from his workplace.
His brother Jon Ring, who lives in Australia and set up the GoFundMe Page, explains how the couple used up any savings they had on the first lot of lockdowns in the UK.
According to Jon, Tommy’s employment status only qualifies him for extremely limited Government benefits and yet they have to sustain a mortgage, living expenses and bills. While Krystyna is unable to work due to her own medical issues – chronic pain.
Jon gave an insight into just how serious Tommy’s condition is. He said: “Medical staff at Northampton Hospital are doing everything they can to help him recover.
“He currently cannot breathe without a mechanical ventilator and is very ill.
“One of his attending Nursing Staff advised us that Tommy has a lot of damage in his lungs. They have been draining water from his lungs but there is a lot of tissue damage due to infections. He is unable to speak.”
Jon says that the family are hopeful that Tommy will recover but he reckons that he has a long road ahead of him.
He said: “We are certainly hoping that Tommy will recover but, unfortunately, the road to recovery will take months due to the significant damage in his lung tissue.
“We have calculated, with Krystyna, the target figure of eleven thousand pounds to pay for medical expenses and normal living expenses while Tommy is recovering over the next 5-6 months (being a reasonable amount of time to recover from COVID and the existing lung tissue damage, etc).
“We feel that everyone who knows Tommy will want to help in some way.”
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