A MEMORIAL bench has been unveiled by the neighbours of a Kilcreggan great-grandfather who passed away after contracting coronavirus in hospital.

Alexander Shanks died on April 18, less than two weeks after picking up Covid-19 at the Vale of Leven Hospital.

Only eight family members were allowed to attend the funeral at Cardross crematorium on May 5 but neighbours and friends installed a fitting tribute to Alex and wife Pat - who died in 2013 - outside their home of almost 40 years in Craigrownie Gardens on Saturday.

Daughter Linda said she had been planning a celebration of her father’s life once lockdown restrictions permit for everyone who was unable to make the funeral, and she was taken aback when the neighbours beat her to it.

“They outdid me,” she told the Advertiser.

“I didn’t know what to expect when I was told to come to the house and when I walked round the corner every neighbour was out at their gates. Gerry Deery and Pete Murphy took the tarpaulin off and that beautiful bench was sitting under it.

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“I had no idea. I hadn’t been up much since he passed away.

“They all did pay their respects with cards and flowers but that was the last thing I expected. I was absolutely gobsmacked.”

Mr Shanks had been in the Katrine ward for dementia patients at the Vale of Leven Hospital since July 2019 and the last time Linda saw her father was on his 79th birthday in February this year.

“It was a total shock to hear that he’d caught it [Covid-19] in hospital,” Linda said, “because the ward had been locked down since the end of February.

“He had recurring chest infections because he was end-stage COPD [chronic obstructive pulmonary disease], but he always fought them and beat them.

“I got a phone call to say that he’d taken unwell and he had been taken over to Lomond and screened for Covid. I got another call the next day to say that he’d tested positive, and I said ‘Well, how is that possible?’”

Alex remained in isolation for 12 days before returning to the Katrine ward, with NHS staff informing Linda on Friday, April 17 that everything seemed fine and talking about setting up Zoom calls for the family.

Later that day, however, his condition deteriorated dramatically.

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Linda said: “He was to be screened again on the Sunday because he was still positive and they said they were going to isolate him until the Monday. A couple of hours later I got a phone call to say that his oxygen had dropped and he was having difficulty swallowing, they weren’t sure if it was dehydration or whatever, but he was going back to Lomond for antibiotics.

“I got another phone call saying the next 48 hours were critical, they didn’t know how it was going to go.

“On the Saturday morning I phoned them just to see how he was and they said that he was fine, he was sitting at the side of his bed having a cup of tea, then within about three or four minutes, just the time it took for the nurse to go and tell him I’d called, I got a phone call straight away saying that he’d taken a turn for the worse and he wasn’t going to come through the end of the day.

“He passed away at quarter past eight at night, that’s how quick it was.”

Linda said lockdown restrictions and the lack of personal touches during funeral arrangements have only compounded the heartbreak of losing her dad to the cruel virus.

She said: “They wouldn’t let me in to the hospital because I’ve got respiratory problems but they let me speak to him over the phone. He was obviously not responsive but one of the nurses held a phone to his ear and let me say goodbye.

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“It was absolutely horrendous knowing that he was going to go and not being able to be at his bedside.

“Day in, day out I was with dad 24/7, I wasn’t a paid carer but I cared. I was with him every day until he went in to hospital and then I was doing constant visits, constant calls, I must have drove him crackers! I just didn’t want to be separated from him.

“Then, to not be able to sit with him until he passed away it’s been an absolute killer, it’s been horrendous.

“I think it would’ve been easier being with him.

“The last I saw of him was him walking back into the ward on February 15, then the next I see is a coffin getting brought into the crematorium.

“For the funeral, the direct contact with the undertaker just does not happen, registering his death was done over the phone, the death certificate from the hospital was emailed to me and the registry office, the funeral was prepared over the phone and by emails - I never seen an undertaker until the crematorium, the same with the minister. There’s no personal touches to it.

“Dad was the last one left out of seven, all his brothers and sisters have passed away, so his funeral was the last on his side of the family.”

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Despite the distressing end to his life, Linda said she is comforted by the fact that her dad, who is survived by four daughters, seven grandchildren and four great-grandchildren, will have a lasting place at his old home.

She added: “Dad would be sitting out there now on the bench. He would spend the whole day on it and chase everybody off it if he was still here, he would be saying ‘That’s my bench!’ He certainly wouldn’t let any kids near it.

“Mum and dad were were very well respected.

“I couldn’t thank the neighbours enough. Every one of them is absolutely amazing, there isn’t one bad neighbour. It’s a lovely wee community.”

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