‘I can’t fail Mary’: the bereaved man fighting for pregnant women threatened by Covid
Ernest Boateng lost his wife Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong shortly after the birth of their second child after she tested positive for coronavirus
Before the pandemic struck, Ernest Boateng and his wife, Mary Agyeiwaa Agyapong, were planning for the future. She was expecting their second child and – after her maternity leave – wanted to become a specialist diabetes nurse; Ernest hoped to join the RAF.
But as the virus tore through the UK, Mary became ill. On 7 April she was admitted to Luton and Dunstable university hospital, where she worked as a nurse, with shortness of breath. She tested positive for coronavirus and was taken to theatre for an emergency caesarean section. Her baby, five weeks early, was born alive. But after five days fighting Covid and pneumonia in intensive care, Mary died, aged just 28. Ernest was suddenly alone, with a premature newborn, and his two-year-old son to look after.
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