Portsmouth family's heartache as Pompey-loving dad dies while 'recovering' from Covid-19

‘Fit and healthy’ Dom Merrix collapsed suddenly on Thursday morning after his condition took a nightmarish turn for the worst.

The 48-year-old Pompey fan, of Langley Road, North End, had been fighting a suspected but undiagnosed bout of Covid-19 for more than two weeks and appeared to be on the mend.

But days after symptoms appeared to subside, he suffered a cataclysmic and rapid decline in his health and was left struggling to breathe at home.

Paramedics arrived after Dom begged his 44-year-old partner of 11 years, Sarah Merrix and their 10-year-old daughter Ellie-Mai for help.

Tragically, he suffered a heart attack while in the ambulance and despite valiant efforts by medics, he died before reaching Queen Alexandra Hospital.

Now a family friend has warned anyone could die from the disease and urged people to stay inside.

Rachel Hibbert, 37 of Merrivale Road, Copnor, said: ‘People think it isn’t going to happen to them because they’re fit and young. Dom was fit and young and it killed him. It’s torn his family apart and left them devastated.

‘This virus is taking the lives of young, fit, healthy people – not just those with underlying health conditions...It puts the fear of God in me that Dom can just drop like that.’

Dom had been in isolation in the downstairs room of his house for about 16 days, while his partner and child lived upstairs.

On the morning of his death, he woke up and appeared ‘normal’, said Rachel, scrolling through Twitter, even retweeting a message supporting the NHS hours before he died.

His devastated family want Dom’s story to be told but are too upset to speak.

But speaking of the ordeal on their behalf, Rachel said: ‘He got up as normal and wanted to have a shower. He sounded absolutely fine. Then bang out of nowhere it happened.

‘He texted his daughter to open the windows because he was struggling to breathe. He then texted Sarah begging for help.

‘Sarah came downstairs and found him on his hands and knees struggling to breathe. When the paramedics arrived they put him on the trolley and asked him to lean back but he couldn’t do it.

‘That was it. Then the doors to the ambulance shut. They didn’t see him alive again.

‘His heart stopped and the paramedics spent 20 minutes outside the house trying to get it started again. By the time he got to hospital they couldn’t bring him back.’

She added: ‘His little girl Ellie-Mai saw it all happen. She was watching from the window.’

In a crushing double-blow for the family, the tragedy came just weeks after Dom was made redundant from energy firm SSE where he’d worked for about 15 years.

Rachel has since started a fundraising appeal to help Dom’s grieving loved ones pay for his funeral at Portchester Crematorium.

And within two days the appeal attracted donations from almost 300 people, raising more than £6,000.

‘Sarah and Ellie-Mai have been blown away by all the support,’ Rachel added. ‘They’re overwhelmed. Dom’s death has left a huge hole in their lives.

‘They can now have the funeral that Dom deserves. It will also give them a few months of not worrying about money.’

Dom, who was a Portsmouth Football Club fan and long-term season ticket holder, is having a bespoke blue Pompey casket made.

Pompey’s chief executive, Mark Catlin said he was horrified by the death of the aspiring amateur football coach and hoped the Blues’ community would rally behind the family.

He added: ‘I was shocked to hear of the passing of Dom Merrix last week. Like many Pompey fans, I knew Dom had contracted Covid-19, but thought he had made a full recovery.

‘Both personally – and on behalf of my family and the club – my sincere thoughts and condolences go out to Sarah and Ellie-Mai. Sadly, too many families have lost loved ones over recent weeks.’

To support the fundraising appeal, see gofundme.com/f/support-sarah-and-elliemai

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