A heartbroken daughter has asked the community to pray for her beloved father Paddy Reilly who is fighting coronavirus in St Luke’s hospital.
In a plea to KCLR tonight Kelly Reilly asked everybody in the locality to keep her dad in their thoughts.
“He’s a gentleman, a big bear… we all adore him and we just want him to come home and get better,” she said.
Lorry driver
Paddy, who worked as a European lorry driver, is 57-years-old and suffers from type 2 diabetes. The Kilcullen native, who has been living in Carlow for years, was admitted to St Luke’s last Friday. “They sent him home and told him if he got shortness of breath to come back. He was home on Monday and completely in isolation.
“He rang me Monday and said ‘I got the coronavirus’. He got shivers, aches, pains and then got very sick after he got home. On Tuesday, the ambulance came out.
“The hospital have been so very helpful, so kind. One lady—Ruth—has rang me umpteen times. He’s critical, he’s very sick. He has a team of people looking after him.”
Adored dad
Kelly said she is Paddy’s eldest daughter and misses the contact with him desperately, as he always called to her home every morning for breakfast. “He adored my son Theo (five months)… It took me a long time to get pregnant and when we did have him, he was the first grandson.”
Kelly said her dad has been put to sleep by doctors. “They had him on the highest oxygen today. It’s hard work to move him or anything with his breathing. I am so worried because he had heart issues before, he has diabetes too… the only thing helping him is his age, he’s 57.”
Paddy has a partner, Michelle, and a six year old child himself who Kelly said misses him greatly.
Family
She also told KCLR that another member of Paddy’s family have contracted Covid-19 and the lady is isolating in another local hospital. She is already undergoing cancer treatment and she said their family have been through a lot.
“We just want people to keep daddy in their thoughts and for him to get better.”
