So here goes..... My Dad Kevin was the absolute rock to our family, husband to Sally for 43 years, father of 3 sons and grandad to 7 amazing grandkids.

Our story starts back in late November 2020, when Dad’s Mum, June,  was admitted to the Countess of Chester Hospital and later passed away on November 25th from Covid 19. 

Dad was asked by the staff if he wanted to spend the last few hours with his mum, hold her hand as she passed, which he accepted and was kitted out with full PPE.

4 days later Dad started showing symptoms, quickly went down hill and he was taken by ambulance to the Wrexham Maelor Hospital into the Intensive care ward. 

The first few days were so scary, but Dad being Dad played it all down….. he was always one to protect his soul mate, our Mum Sally and us boys. Over the course of the next 3 weeks he turned the corner and was making great progress, we were now totally convinced he would be home soon. He even made a plea from his intensive care bed on BBC Wales news to highlight the dangers of COVID-19. On the 17th December he was even well enough for me to drop in his favourite Chinese meal and was determined to be home for Christmas.

On Christmas Eve,  Dad started to be less vocal on the zoom calls, the only method we as a family could all be together and at that point our worry levels began to grow. The anxious wait for the daily update from the doctor became horrendous as the days went on.

On Christmas Day we had one last zoom call with Dad. He waved, smiled but never spoke. This was the last time the 5 of us would speak or would see each other as the family unit. We didn’t know it at the time and would have said so much more if we had known.

Boxing Day the incredible staff called to say dad would now be placed on a ventilator and the chance of survival was slim, but we knew Dad would fight and fight to see us all again. 

As the days passed, the phone calls from the doctors became  less and less positive until we knew what path lay ahead.

In the early hours of the 8th of January 2021 Kevin Hughes, husband, father, father in law, grandad, brother and friend to so so many was cruelly taken away from us all at the age of just 63. The amazing staff put his Villa shirt on him as he passed in total peace and pain free.

I mention the Villa shirt as that was a huge part of Dad’s life, travelling from his home in North Wales to Villa Park and back week in week out, following his beloved Aston Villa Football club,  a 190 mile round trip.

We plan to make that exact trip on foot, all in aid of Hope House Children’s Hospice who dad worked tirelessly for. We set off New Year’s Day 2022 and arrive back 190 miles later after walking to Villa Park and back in 8 days, arriving back 1 year to the day he passed away.

Our family would like to thank you from the bottom of our hearts for every single donation, big or small. They will all make a huge difference to this amazing charity as we continue dad’s work.

Thanks for reading 

Andy 

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