A PENSIONER has told how he "just felt like I wanted to die" lying in a hospital bed with coronavirus.

Richard Loveless, 77, had just gone back from a trip to visit his step-daughter in Colorado.

He managed to get the last flight out to return home as the COVID-19 crisis unfolded.

He said: "I started feeling unwell as soon as I got back. My breathing got very tight.

"I even went out on my bike, but got worse and worse.

"A week later - I was on my hands and knees in the hallway gasping for air. I thought - this isn’t good."

Richard, from Woolavington, called an ambulance and was taken to the isolation unit at Taunton's Musgrove Park Hospital, where he stayed for the next eight days.

He said: "It was awful. I was lying in bed all day, on my own, freezing. I just felt like I wanted to die.

"My temperature was up and down like a yo-yo. I couldn’t eat.

"It wasn’t that it didn’t appeal - I just couldn’t get my head around it. It was very strange.

"I was on an oxygen mask which I kept on 24/7. They monitored me very closely.

"The care I received was incredible, but the virus really knocked the stuffing out of me. I was lucky to get away with it."

His condition eventually began to improve and he woke up one morning and his doctor told him he was free to go home.

Retired lecturer Richard, who has been home since last week, said: “I brightened immediately. I thought - I can’t believe it. I’ve beaten it.”

Richard, a volunteer with the Red Cross oncology transport service, lives alone and was worried about who would go shopping for him when he was discharged.

"I needn’t have worried," he said. "There was a food parcel from the Red Cross waiting for me when I got back.

"My daughter had been in touch with them while I was in hospital. Two lovely volunteers came to drop it off. They took care of everything.

"I received messages of support from Red Cross colleagues when I was in hospital, but I didn’t expect this.

"They’ve been in touch every day, checking up on me and offering to do the shopping.

"I’m feeling a lot better now, and my neighbours are able to help, so I told them to support someone who needs it more urgently.

"I’m very touched by the care they’ve shown me."

Richard’s involvement with the Red Cross goes back to 2006, when he was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 2006.

He said: "The Red Cross oncology transport service ferried me up to radiotherapy appointments in Bristol after my operation.

"When I got the all clear my wife suggested I volunteer for them as a way of saying thanks.

"I’m retired and I wanted to do something worthwhile. I thought, why not?

"My wife has since passed away from cancer, so I have a great deal of empathy for people in the same situation.

"You form very close relationships with the people you’re driving.

"It can be a scary experience and it helps to have someone to talk to.

"The chap who used to drive me is now one of my best friends. We’re a couple of old widowers and we see each other all the time.

"The Red Cross has been there for me at so many different points throughout my life. It’s a great organisation and I’ve made some incredible friends there over the years. I really do love them."