Northampton man pays tribute to wife, 56, who died less than a year into their marriage following a Covid-19 battle

A husband has paid tribute to his ‘happy-going’ wife who died after a six-week Covid-19 battle.

Ruth Wilson was just 56 when she died on December 20, 2020 after first being admitted to Northampton General Hospital in November last year following an asthma attack.

The grandmother-of-one, originally from Liverpool, who had worked as a driving instructor for 14 years, was well-known and well-respected in the town where she had lived for 20 years.

Ruth married her husband, Andy Wilson, on January 10, 2020, less than a year before she died.

The couple lived together at Overstone Lakes and, according to Andy, they had a ‘wonderful summer together’ after a two-month honeymoon in Cyprus.

Andy said: “Ruth was a woman who was very caring and loved to care for others.

“She would help everyone else out before thinking about herself and she was a very happy-going person.”

After returning from the honeymoon, lockdown hit and Ruth was unable to work, as driving lessons were suspended.

In August she suffered from a stroke, but was recovering and ready to return to work as the second national lockdown was announced.

Shortly after, on November 9, 2020, Ruth had two asthma attacks, the second of which required an ambulance to take her to hospital.

Andy added: “We were told that Ruth had Covid but they had a bed shortage so she was sent home under monitoring.

“On November 11, they wanted her back in so an ambulance was called to take her to hospital. She never came out.

“We could communicate over WhatsApp and sometimes video call, but I couldn’t hear her because of the machines.

“We were allowed to go and see her on week four and then the next day she turned a corner and was sitting up in the chair.

“But then she started to go down hill again.

“When I did go and see her again, I could see she was physically and mentally exhausted. She fought for six weeks.”

Andy wants to thank the nurses who looked after Ruth for the care they provided, particularly when he asked if his wife could be moved to a side ward.

Staff ‘moved heaven and earth’ to facilitate Andy’s wish, which came about as Ruth had seen six people die around her with Covid-19 and her husband wanted to prevent other people from having to see the same happen once again.

Ruth’s funeral will be held on Friday (January 15) and more than 60 driving instructors had expressed an interest in paying their respects by creating a guard of honour in their cars.

However, due to lockdown restrictions, this will not be allowed to happen and only 30 people will be able to attend the funeral.

Instead, the driving instructor community is paying its respects by leaving messages and donations to Macmillan Cancer Support on Ruth’s tribute page, which can be found here.

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